Plays of the day

Hopeless Hopes soars

Cricinfo staff

February 17, 2008

	Munaf Patel got a good early wake-up call from Matthew Hayden © Getty Images

Good morning, Mr Patel
Munaf Patel, with his shaggy hair, day-long stubble and ambling run-up, always seems like he's doing his least-favourite household chore. That seemed to be the case as he prepared for his first comeback over. He didn't take into account the fact that the game wasn't even five overs old and Sreesanth had already been badly bruised by Adam Gilchrist. Matthew Hayden had been kept silent by Ishant Sharma and was raring to break the shackles. Patel bowled an innocuous short-of-a-length delivery, and Hayden latched on to it, advanced two steps out and smacked it straight into the Sir Edwin Smith Stand. A good wake-up call.

Hit and miss
It should have been a run-out. Hopes set off as soon as he tapped one off Munaf to Rohit Sharma, who charged at the ball. By then Michael Clarke was midway through the run and both batsmen were stranded in the middle. Sharma should have hit the stumps direct at the bowler's end but missed the mark. To add to the Indian misery neither Harbhajan Singh nor Yuvraj Singh, standing at midwicket and mid-on, backed up at the stumps.

Hope(s)less
James Hopes was clueless. Trying to work a Harbhajan doosra behind square, he stepped out, but failed to connect and even dropped the bat in the process. Dhoni brushed the bails off with a flourish. Harbhajan had already taken off on his celebratory run towards the point.

Splash for cash
While Adelaidians were melting in the searing heat, taking refuge in the nearby swimming pool or fountain, tomorrow's entrepreneurs were getting in on the act. Spraying spectators with refreshing water for a dollar a squirt, two smiling young boys - Timothy and Allen - had made A$18 in the first hour alone. They ended with a cool $40 each.

Slip in the slips
Matthew Hayden's recent return to the slips was supposed to have boosted Australia but he was the guilty man when Sachin Tendulkar edged hard off Nathan Bracken on 1 and the ball raced flew past him as he barely moved.

Stand and deliver ... a stare
Three balls later Tendulkar was nearly guilty of some rare dissent as he stood in his crease, unable to believe he had been given out lbw to a possibly high ball off Bracken.

Hopes soars
The pressure was on Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Hopes had already bagged two wickets in his first two overs. Normally a medium-pace bowler, Hopes pitched one on length and it spat and surprised Dhoni who had already made up his mind to pull, but decided at the last second to get out of the way of the 134-kph ball, avoiding getting hit on the face.

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