LSG vs PBKS, IPL 2023 Emotional Rollercoaster: Shahrukh is a box-office hit, KL bursts on Avesh, Zaheer Khan’s tips help Yudhvir Singh

Shahrukh Khan is a box-office hit
When he smashed his first ball from Mark Wood for a stunning six over long-on, it was clear the adrenalin was rushing. But could he control it? He showed he could, choosing the balls and areas to hit, and staying till the end. When he tonked Ravi Bishnoi for the match-winning four in the final over, he pumped his f and kept running to his team-mates. On air, Matthew Hayden had turned a big fan: “I like his hitting technique; he stays still, doesn’t commit.”
11 years and a case of maken identity later, Harpreet Bhatia ends IPL drought 
Nearly 11 years after he last played an IPL game (10 years, 332 days), Harpreet Singh Bhatia has made his comeback in the IPL. In fact, his telling, he might have got into IPL in 2017, but a case of maken identity ensured he wasn’t picked in the auction. On the morning of the auction, a news agency had wrongly reported that Harpreet was arrested and granted bail for driving his car onto the platform of a suburban railway station in Mumbai. The offender was the left-arm spinner but apparently it was misconstrued to be Bhatia.

Shahrukh Khan gets @PunjabKingsIPL over the line 🔥🔥
What a finish to an epic chase 🙌
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/OHcd6VfDps #TATAIPL | #LSGvPBKS pic.twitter.com/jGzGulGL45
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 15, 2023
“I am getting calls from everyone asking what have you done. I was hoping to be picked up at the IPL auction… When my name came, the franchises must have felt why take a player who is in police custody,” he had said then. He was the highest run getter in the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, then.
On Saturday night, he finally got his chance, and was anchoring the chase rather neatly on a tricky pitch before he heaved Krunal Pandya to long-leg after making 22.
Ouch, and then wow! 
A nasty lifter from Kagiso Rabada caught KL Rahul   surprise in the third over. It leaped from nowhere, from just back of length, and Rahul had no time to escape. He just jabbed at it and winced as it reared up at his glove. His response next ball though was great. He leaned forward to punch a length delivery, a tad fuller than the previous, through the line, on the up over covers for an one-bounce four. “That’s extraordinary shot,” Eoin Morgan would coo on air. The previous ball threatened his face, the next one thudded into the boundary with an imperious shot. To trust the pitch and himself after that near-knockout blow was quite something.
Don’t bowl short to Mayers 
Kyle Mayers seems to be waiting for anything short. Sam Curran knew it and kept hurling it really full and Mayers would bring his bat down seemingly in the last instant to make contact. But off the last ball of the 4th over, Curran made the make of dragging back one short. It was a slower one, not all that short but back of length, and Mayers whirred into action. He arched back, created his own length and since he doesn’t move his feet an inch into the line or forward, he is always going to whack anything remotely short. Still it was a stunning hit, the arch-back giving him room to swing his arms, punching up and over cover point for a six. Kagiso Rabada didn’t learn from that and went for a short ball next over and Mayers leaned back to crash-pull it for a 78-metre six over midwicket.
Shahrukh’s sure
“Out out …” even as a team-mate enquired about the legality of this catch, Shahrukh Khan was absolutely confident. He had leaped to his left near the boundary ropes to pouch the pull from Krunal Pandya, stepped out after he threw the ball up, and almost sauntered back in to complete the catch. No wonder, he was absolutely sure about it. Krunal had to go big there; it was the 15th over and the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Nicolas Pooran were still in the dugout. It’s a tricky pitch, two paced, and with it helping both turn every now and then and also the seamers were able to bounce one sharply from just back of length. It would then play slow and janus-faced again. It would be interesting to see how the big hitters go in the final four. We didn’t have to wait long as Pooran went for an almighty swing in the same over, holing out to Shahrukh at deep midwicket. He waited and waited before it finally came down from the skies.
KL bursts on Avesh Khan
Avesh Khan’s first ball was a short one and Matt Short bashed it to midwicket boundary to trigger KL Rahul’s disappointment and anger at the bowler. He jabbered away, as Avesh Khan hung his head and walked back. The second was a good ball, fuller on a length, but the next two were shortish again, and Short lapped the first one and cut the latter for two fours. The cameraperson zoomed on KL both times but was met with a stiff upper lip. Luckily, Avesh recovered to send full-length nipbackers off the final two balls to trouble Short.

Zaheer Khan’s tips help Yudhvir Singh Charak 
In 2021, Mumbai Indians had uploaded a lovely video involving Zaheer Khan and Yudhvir Singh Charak, who used to be with Mumbai back then. Zaheer is seen telling him to get the non-bowling left arm higher if he wants to bowl fuller length deliveries. “When your (left) elbow goes higher, you will automatically feel the weight shifting  . If your left arm is higher, the right arm will get straighter and come ahead.  And only head position is what you always should work on.” Yudhvir Singh is all ears, and says his “outswing is also getting better as I have started to complete my action”. Zaheer nods, “It will get even better. You have to keep doing it speed (bring the left arm down before release”.
On Saturday night, those Zaheer tips could be seen in  LSG’s Yudhvir’s double-strike. The strapping lad had Atharva Taide hurried for pace, and holing out to fine-leg before slipping in a cracker of a nip-backer that burst through the bat-swing of Prabhsimran Singh. Zaheer would have been happy with the height of the non-bowling arm and the speed with which it came down and the head position