IPL 2017 first day, Yuvraj Singh show: A clockwork orange

Here is the thing that always startles about his gorgeous bat swing: It would have been understandable if it was a golf ball that he was hitting like this. It’s one thing to make the bat look like an extension of arms if he were hitting a stationary ball, but to meet wood on moving leather so stylishly like this is another thing altogether. He was helped by the length the Bangalore bowlers bowled at him – either too short or pretty full, and he didn’t really have to move his feet much. He just bent and eased his body into the right positions, and could focus entirely on the swing of his arms and bat. He arched back to absolutely hammer the short ones from left-armers Aniket Chaudhury and S Aravind, and leaned into the fuller ones to cream them through the off side. It was apt that a hat-trick of boundaries off Chaudhury came when Virat Kohli, injured and not playing, was speaking to a commentator by the sidelines of the boundary. It was under Kohli’s captaincy that Yuvraj made his India return recently – the move seems to have spiked his confidence levels in recent times.

Even Tymal Mills, the much-hyped T20 bowler with lot of variations, suffered at his hands. The back-of-the-hand slower one that had other batsmen in knots didn’t pose any problems to Yuvraj. He walloped a couple of slower ones – one that bounced extra was thrown back from the deep midwicket stands. A regulation bouncer was pulled to the square-leg boundary. A fuller one was picked up over square-leg and by the time he was bowled, Yuvraj had marked the opening night with his delectable power hitting. Scratch that: to call it a power hitting is to do injustice as it conjures up visions of brutal violence that strips the innings of its charm and silken timing.

Yuvraj even showed off his branded bat (Yes we can), brandishing it up at the cameras like the WWE stars showcase their belts, after reaching the fifty. His wife smiled in the crowd, thousands cheered, and the commentators purred on air. And Indian fans would hope he can carry this good form into the Champions Trophy and pull off something special for India.

Second-most powerful arm

It needed a violent throw from Ben Cutting to allow Hyderabad wrest control of the chase. Bangalore had done really well to get to 116 in just over 11 overs and with eight wickets in hand, a special win seemed a real possibility. Kedar Jadhav had left the wily old fox Ashish Nehra looking clueless and bemused with the way he worked the angles with deft wrist work. It was then that Cutting intervened. Rather his right arm did.

It was hit to the deep square-leg boundary and Jadhav perhaps thought he could make it back for the second run in time. There are two arms in world cricket that aren’t wise to take on: Ravindra Jadeja and Cutting, most powerful left and right arm in business. Cutting swooped on the ball, took aim and it was a blur from then on. The white ball whooshed through the air and Jadhav, despite putting in a dive, had no chance. Not only was the throw really quick, it was deadly accurate too. Bang and Jadhav was a goner, and so was Bangalore. From then on, barring the odd big over or two, Bangalore rapidly lost steam.