Upstaging the Men at Work
S Rajesh looks at the Plays of the Day for the second semi-final between Australia and India in Durban
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One ball four, next ball out
Virender Sehwag was hampered by a groin strain very early in the innings,
but when he stood up and square-drove Mitchell Johnson for his first four,
it seemed he might have shrugged off the discomfort of the injury. Next
ball, though, a slash resulted in an edge, and Australia had nailed a
significant breakthrough.
Carry on Yuvraj
After his stunning assault on England, Yuvraj Singh was forced to miss
Thursday's match against South Africa due to tendonitis, but he
demonstrated he was still in pretty good nick when he walked out to bat in
the ninth over here. The second ball he faced, from Stuart Clark, was
slightly short, and Yuvraj was on to it in a trice, swivelling and pulling
it high over square leg to get off the mark in style, and serve a warning
to the Australians.
Clark taken to the cleaners
In five matches before this one, Clark had gone at 5.3 runs per
over, and taken 12 wickets. Today, though, he found his match in Yuvraj.
The 14th over of the innings was Clark's last of the match, and Yuvraj
made it a memorable over for the Indians - the first ball was carved over
cover, and a misjudgment by Brad Haddin at the cover boundary turned what
should have been a dismissal into a four. The next three balls all went
for two, before Clark tried a slower ball, which Yuvraj picked from
outside off and deposited over square leg for six to get to a 20-ball
fifty. And when he tapped the last ball of the over for a one-bounce four
over point, Clark had gone for 21 off the over - that's more than 20% of
the runs he had conceded in all the previous games.
Sreesanth gets his act together
Sreesanth had struggled for direction against South Africa, but here his
radar was spot on. In his second over - the fourth of the innings - he did
everything other than actually taking a wicket, beating Matthew Hayden four
times in six balls. Next over, Adam Gilchrist wasn't quite as lucky,
driving from the crease and leaving a huge gap between bat and pad. The
ball crashed through, and Sreesanth's demonic expressions and wild
celebrations were as dramatic as the dismissal itself.
Hayden starts to roar
The start was hardly fluent for Hayden, but when Joginder Sharma
was introduced into the attack, Hayden realised it was time to flex his
muscles. Getting down on his knee, Hayden swung one so mightily that the
ball soared over midwicket, and right out of the stadium. A replacement
ball had to be quickly summoned.
Out or what?
Irfan Pathan pitched it short, Brad Hodge pulled, and Joginder took
a sharp catch at short fine leg. It looked like a clear dismissal, but
then Joginder did something quite unusual - he rifled the ball back to the
wicketkeeper almost as soon as he caught it, prompting Hodge to put his
bat back in the crease and turn towards the umpire quizzically, as if to
ask "Was that a no-ball ump?" It wasn't, and Hodge had no option but to
trudge back.
Aussie men at work
With Hayden and Andrew Symonds going strong, Australia were cruising at
129 for 2 after 14, and latching on to the mood, Funky B, the DJ, belted
out Men at Work's Land Down Under. Instead of inspiring Australia, it jeed
up Sreesanth, who bowled another ripper that crashed into Hayden's off
stump.
Sorry, mate
Third ball of the 19th over: RP Singh goes for the yorker, the ball slips
out of his hand, and heads straight towards Haddin's face. Haddin's
gloves get in the way to prevent serious injury, and immediately there are
apologies all around. Mahendra Singh Dhoni walks up to the batsman to say
sorry, while Singh puts his hand up to acknowledge his mistake - even
Michael Atherton would have been convinced that this was a genuine
apology. Haddin certainly was.
S Rajesh is stats editor of Cricinfo
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