IPL emotional roller-coaster: Pandya with a purpose, head-scratcher from Pollard

With the T20 World Cup months away, every Hardik Pandya delivery undergoes forensic examination. The early test results from Pune are heartening. For starters when Gujarat Titan’s skipper Pandya decided to open the bowling with Mohammad Shami, the writing was on the wall that India’s premier pace all-rounder was no longer a reluctant bowler, a tag he has dubiously carried for a while. A wicket on his first ball would have seen the bursting of firecrackers at Cricket Centre and NCA. Finally, India’s T20 playing XI’s vital jigsaw piece had been sighted. Pandya did get rid of Tim Seifert but it wasn’t quite a wicket-taking ball. It was actually the third ball of the over, to Mandeep Singh that would have got a smile on India coach Rahul Dravid’s face. In that over Pandya was flying on the turf, hitting the crease with purpose and, most importantly, he was even bending his back. The result was a short, but heavy, ball that climbed on Mandeep. The attempted pull was a disaster. Hitting on the upper part of the bat, the ball failed to clear the 30 yards circle. Luckily it fell in no-man’s land. It is not always the wicket-taking balls that define the form of a player.
Standing his ground
Lalit Yadav refused to budge. Apparently, his interpretation of the Law was different to the MCC manual. It was a run-out at the bowler’s end and Yadav was short of his crease. But Vijay Shankar had stepped on the stumps and dislodged one of the bails. After collecting the throw from Abhinav Manohar, the bowler whipped the other bail off, with Yadav still about a foot short. Third umpire Bruce Oxenford rightly adjudged the non-striker run-out, but Yadav stood his ground. Without the stumps being taken out, he wasn’t convinced about his dismissal. The stumps had to be dismantled if both the bails were dislodged. What Shankar did was perfectly legal. However, it took some convincing and a word from his captain Rishabh Pant before Yadav reluctantly trudged off.

Razzies for Pollard
Every IPL throws up those head-scratching moments of disbelief. There are the never-seen-before incredible efforts that would blow you away. And then, like during the MI vs RR game, there are also some ridiculously ordinary efforts. In this Oscar week, MI’s Kieron Pollard gave a performance that could have got him a Razzie. In his 4-0-46-0 forgettable act, what clinched the award for him was his last over to Shimron Hetmyer where he conceded 26 runs. It wasn’t just about the runs that MI’s old hand conceded – who doesn’t have – it was lack of application that was puzzling. Pollard seemed to have had a brain freeze. Bowl to the field, the MI’s stand- captain would have instructed a million times when leading the team but he didn’t stick to that basic rule. With the fine-leg inside the circle, Pollard kept bowling his gentle trundlers to Hetmyer’s legs. Making it easier for Hetmyer was a virtual long hop and a full-toss that Pollard gift-wrapped for the fellow West Indian. After 6, 6, 4, 4, 1w, 4 lb where every run was scored on the leg-side, Hetmyer took a single to retain the strike. He would hit a 6 and 4 in the first 3 balls of the next over.

Last action hero out first ball.
What is Mathew Wade’s most famous shot? The half-squat, tumbling on the off-side, flip over the fine-leg to a left-arm pacer. Shaheen Afridi – along with Pakan, and even Indian, fans – will never forget this bit of Wade trivia. In the World T20 semi-final, Pakan, after finally beating India in an ICC event, seemed all set to play the final. Wade would spoil the dream, he hit Afridi for three sixes in the final over to take Australia to the final that they would go on to win. The Aussie wicket-keeper, a villain in Pakan, would feature in millions of hilarious memes getting beeped on Indian WhatsApp groups. Of those three sixes, two went flying over fine-leg, Wade’s pre-meditating gamble paying off both times. In cricket, however, there are no guarantees. The plan that works on the final ball of a WorldT20 game might fall flat in IPL. Wade, opening for Gujarat Titans, faced Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman first up. In T20 you don’t wait to bring out your best weapon. On the first ball of the innings, Wade walked outside off, waited for the ball, almost went down on one knee and tried to help the ball along to clear the boundary. Not today, Mustafizur was smart, his delivery was slower and shorter. It took Wade’s edge and reached Pant’s hands. Last action hero out first ball.