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Plays of the day
Living on the edge, and a kamikaze artist
Cricinfo staff
May 18, 2008
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Shahid Afridi pulled off a super catch on the boundary line but lasted just one ball at the crease (file photo)
© AFP
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Gambling with Venu
It takes a brave man to try a part-time spinner against a rampaging Sanath Jayasuriya but Adam Gilchrist's ploy to bring on Venugopal Rao as early as the third over came off. The plan appeared to backfire when Rao drifted onto the pads, with Jayasuriya helping himself to two fours, but a quicker one was to get him out - a top-edged sweep sailing straight to deep square leg.
Catching on the edge
Shahid Afridi started it and Dominic Thornely and Dwayne Bravo carried on the trend of taking catches on the boundary. Afridi completed a superbly-judged catch at the long-on boundary to dismiss Robin Uthappa - he watched the ball into his hands and ensured he stayed within the boundary. Thornely's was a splendid running catch - sprinting from point to latch onto the skier close to the deep point boundary and Bravo nearly pulled off the catch of the day with a running attempt to extra cover - the only hitch being his step over the line while gaining control of the ball.
First-ball kamikaze
Some batsmen prefer to see out the first ball but others just prefer to try and hit it out of the ground. Afridi, bristling with confidence after his fine show with the ball, swung at a wide one first up, trying to blast it over the square boundary, but Thornley snaffled a beauty.
Nehra silences Gilly
Ashish Nehra went wicketless but he gave a lesson in bowling to Gilchrist early on. He should have had him twice in the first over - an inside-edge raced away past the stumps and a leading edge was put down by Rohan Raje at mid-on. He managed to move the ball either way, kept varying his length shrewdly and hardly gave Gilchrist the room to free his arms. The only ball that got away was the last ball of the second over. Gilchrist moved forward and converted a good-length ball into a half-volley, crashing it over the bowler's head.
Fernando gets two in two
Once Nehra had turned the screw, it was upto Dilhara Fernando to reap the rewards. He fooled Gilchrist with a slower ball first-up, before slipping in a quick shorter one - a glide that flew straight to deep third man. For the next one, he rolled his wrists over again, a ball so tantalising that Rohit Sharma had finished his shot before finding himself trapped plumb in front.
Venu stands alone
For the third match in a row, Rao produced a valiant hand in a losing cause. Like the 42-ball 71 against Kolkata Knight Riders and the 18-ball 34 against Delhi Daredevils, the 38-ball 57 today was struck against a mounting asking-rate with mainly the lower order for company. He needed to farm the strike and also look for the big hits. Typically he managed to score with hardly any stroke in anger but once again it was in vain.
© Cricinfo
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