RR ride on Mumbai local Ajinkya Rahane

There is something ethereal about Ajinkya Rahane’s timing. It comes through best when he is punching the ball on the up through the off side. The contrast with most right-hand batsmen is reflected in that shot. With others, the punch can be a violent activity – they almost fist away the ball. With Rahane, it’s more silken and so fluid. These are two attributes you would usually associate with drives, but with him, it comes through even in those on-the-up punches through cover point. And his bat-speed in those shots can be at times as quick as that of Virender Sehwag, which is no mean achievement.

Sunday night offered plenty of sightings of that timing and that shot. He got up and running with an up-and-over slash over point off the tall young Australian of Indian-origin, Gurinder Sandhu, who made his IPL debut. He then punched a Zaheer Khan delivery through covers with effortless ease, making one wonder when did these on-the-up punches by Indian batsmen became so commonplace. Perhaps it’s a post Tendulkar-era phenomenon, a thought to be explored another day.

There were also the Tendulkarish whips off middle-stump deliveries to square-leg boundary. One against Nathan Coulter-Nile in the sixth over stood out. It was on the middle and came in from the off-and-middle line from a good length, but Rahane was perfectly balanced to wrist it away for an elegant boundary. And so he went from strength to strength, punching, flicking and unfurling late-cuts on a pitch which saw the ball coming on nicely to the bat.

Rahane, who has excelled in Test cricket in the last one year or so, also showed he has a wide range of shots that allows him to shine in the limited-overs format as well. There is this bottom-hand powered uppish flick of his and the daring swipe shot that he plays. We saw it against Mitchell Johnson the other night – a length delivery on the middle was swiped across purely on length, a daring shot made possible because of his bat speed. On Sunday, he showcased his pull shots to pick up a six off Coulter-Nile and a four against Sandhu. And as ever, he sashayed down the track to the spinner Amit Mishra to pick him over the infield on the off side a few times and once, all the way over long-on.

Butter-fingered Delhi

Delhi Daredevils’ catching was atrocious on Sunday. They reprieved both Rahane and Karun Nair who went on to make fine fifties to power Rajasthan to a strong total. In the 11th over, Rahane, on 34, lofted Angelo Mathews towards deep midwicket where Sandhu was late in getting off the blocks and clanged the dipping ball. Rahane was dropped again on 64 when he top edged a slower one from Sandhu. Amit Mishra ran back from cover, Zaheer moved across from mid-off but neither really managed to get under the ball. Worried about a possible collision, they left it too far too late when both lunged for it. Luckily, they managed to avoid a painful collision though they did end up falling on each other. Nair, too, benefited from the largesse of Delhi’s fielders when he was on 33. A top-edged pull saw the ball swirling towards third man, but Saurabh Tiwary couldn’t hold on to a not-so-easy running catch.

Two gorgeous shots

Rahane did impress with his innings but two of the sweetest boundaries of the match came from Delhi’s Yuvraj Singh. The first was really sublime. It was actually a fine delivery from Shane Watson, swinging in a touch into the left-hander from a good length but Yuvraj leaned into it and seemed to just play a defensive push. The timing was so sublime that the ball plummeted past the bowler and the mid-off fielder. There wasn’t any effort, not even a hint of intent in it, and for all you know, Yuvraj was just defending. But the inherent timing was enough to fetch him the best four of the day.

The next one was easier and part of hat-trick boundaries off Dhawal Kulkarni. It was a full-length delivery and Yuvraj caressed it through covers and the ball skimmed the grass. Yuvraj looked in great touch but stumbled against James Faulkner, who troubled him with his incoming deliveries before inducing him to pull a bouncer to deep square-leg.