IPL 2023: Deshpande knocks down Rohit, Jadeja takes a Blinder and Rahane hordes 23 in one chunky over

Dhoni saunters out… to celebrate
For some reason with just five runs for a win, MS Dhoni was furiously shadow batting in the dressing room. The big screen caught it of course, and the crowd cheered. Dhoni didn’t have to come out to bat in the end as Ambati Rayudu finished it off. Dhoni ripped off his gloves and pad and sauntered out to shake hands.
Rohit Sharma slipped his cap down, on his face as he sighed. He then collected himself, walked over with a smile to Dhoni and patted his back. Some days to remember, some nights to forget.
– Sriram Veera
Rahane loots 23 in one over
Rohit Sharma sighed, shrugged, shut his eyes, and slumped his shoulder after Ajinkya Rahane looted 23 runs coming in the fourth over of the chase, off medium pacer Arshad Khan. Ruturaj Gaikwad gasped and threw his head skywards in admiration at one point, after a most gorgeous straight drive ala Sachin Tendulkar with a bit more of a wry flourish.

Impact Player @RayuduAmbati with the winning runs 💥
A 7⃣-wicket win in Mumbai for @ChennaiIPL 💛😎
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/rSxD0lf5zJ#TATAIPL | #MIvCSK pic.twitter.com/aK6Npl8auB
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 8, 2023
The bleeding had started with Jason Behrendorff who offered a venom-less short ball on the legs. Ajinkya Rahane, who came in for the injured Ben Stokes, couldn’t have got a better welcome drink and swatted it for a six. Next over, Arshad Khan went further with the hospitality to the old Mumbai hand. A full ball going down pads was helped along with a flourish over fine-leg. Then the short ball ricocheted off the advertising hoardings at point boundary. Then a length delivery was timed sweetly past short third before he slash-punched in his unique way, with those awesome bat-speed seen and celebrated in Australia and South Africa in his heydays. And then came that peachy straight drive that would have pleased Tendulkar in the opposite dugout.
Was he done? Of course not. Cameron Green was swatted over square-leg and Piyush Chawla was crashed through covers and a rank long hop pulled to midwicket as he brought up his 50 in 19 balls.
– Sriram Veera
Deshpande knocks down Rohit
Tushar Deshpande was pulled up his captain in the earlier game for a series of no-balls and wide. ‘Find a second captain’ was his remark about not just Deshpande, but also the largesse from other pacers. But there was enough even in those games that Deshpande has the skill to move the ball; hence Dhoni’s confidence in him. He showed it with a lovely delivery to knock out Rohit Sharma. It landed short of length on the off and middle and knocked out off and middle stump. Rohit aided him getting squared-up, trying to clip it to the onside. A strange shot considering Deshpande has been taking the ball away from the right-hander consently in the few games. Rohit was stuck in the crease, and expected the ball to tail in a touch but it straightened to take out his stumps. Luckily, the no-ball hooter didn’t sing.
– Sriram Veera
In a blink of an eye, Jadeja pouches a Green missile
Perhaps only Ravindra Jadeja could have pouched that return catch smashed Cameron Green. Even he had his eyes closed and couldn’t cup his palms together; such was the ferocity in the shot and there was literally no air time. As soon as he landed one on a length and looked across, he would have seen the tall Green’s blazing bat coming down ‘bohot hard’ on the ball. Immediately, instinctively, courageously, Jadeja tried to bring his palms together above his head. Incredibly, he maintained eye contact with the ball for a fair while even as that white ball blurred across at rapid pace. Just before it reached him, a sense of self-preservation from the brain too over, but he still didn’t flinch. The hands couldn’t be cupped, the eyes forced shut, but the right palm was still up and in position to pouch the missile. Astonishing effort from a great fielder. Even before he completed the catch, the umpire had staggered down to save his life. Jadeja ever so cooly pouched it, under-armed it to the umpire still going down to the ground, and walked away from the crime scene. He might as well have lit up a cigar and posed for a picture.
– Sriram Veera

Wretched days continue for SKY
As they say, when things go wrong, they really go wrong. Ever since February, Suryakumar Yadav’s stocks have plummeted. His scores from then on across formats have run thus: 24, 8, 0, 0, 0, 15, and 1. The three ducks against Australia were much fretted on and it was hoped that IPL can kickstart his turnaround. It’s yet to happen. On the match eve, when Ricky Ponting said that Surya can win India the ODI world cup and his recent form should be ignored, a confident-looking Suryakumar was rolling back the nostalgia on a Mumbai Indians video. He talked about how the Wankhede stadium feels like home to him and how so much good has happened to him at this venue. It proved a killjoy on Saturday evening though.  It was a down-the-leg delivery from Mitch Santner, seemingly headed for a wide, but Surya’s attempted sweep only resulted in him gloving it to the alert Dhoni. He was beginning to walk off when he spotted the umpire signal a wide and stood. Dhoni of course went for the DRS to confirm Surya’s exit. Murphy’s law and all that.
– Sriram Veera
Does Pollard the Mumbai Indians’s coach have one eye on Dwayne Bravo the CSK coach?
Darren Ganga, a former captain, had a chat with Keiron Pollard in the 14th over and couldn’t res asking the question about Bravo, who is the bowling coach of CSK. The two are very good friends who also don’t shy away from having friendly battles in the middle, with both often taking the mickey off each other publicly. “I have to focus on what is needed on this side. He will be smiling on the other side, which is right too!” Pollard would say.As batting coach of Mumbai Indians, he didn’t shy away from his frank assessment of the Mumbai batting debacle: “We got a good start but we didn’t capitalise with fundamental basic errors.” When Ganga answered about his chats with the batsmen, Pollard said: “These days the players are instinctive; you don’t want to take that from the players … We have continuous conversation about when to soak up pressure and how to apply pressure.” Obviously, that didn’t quite happen on the day.
– Sriram Veera