Ruturaj, a batsman who doesn’t have to change his game drastically When Axar Patel released the ball, he would hardly have anticipated such a response from Ruturaj Gaikwad. It was a fairly fine delivery, making Gaekwad stretch on the front foot, on the off stump line - neither width or length on offer to be slammed. And Gaekwad stretched inexorably, collapsed his arms to create his own width, and scoop-drived it gorgeously over cover. Not the extra cover region, but much tighter, and done so gracefully. Gaekwad gives the impression of a batsman who has time and who doesn’t have to change his game too much for any format. It’s the extension of arms that do the trick. Perhaps if its a longer format, he would push-drive or punch but in T20s, he lets the arms flow through. No drastic readjustment of his game is done. Kuldeep Yadav vs Ruturaj Gaekwad - a lovely duel Barring a long hop, Kuldeep Yadav has had both Chennai openers on a leash, especially Ruturaj Gaekwad, in his first two overs. He came on to bowl when the batsmen were well set and flowing, but he made it feel, they were the new batsmen who have come in to face him in midst of a hot spell. He had Gaekwad feeling searching for the ball with his sliders and googlies. One landed on the middle and leg, and unsure Gaekwad poked it off the leading edge to the off. In the second over, came a ripping googly that had Gaekwad trying to slog sleep and the leading edge just about taking the ball over extra cover fielder. The Chennai openers have been slamming all the other bowlers but are not only unable to get Kuldeep away but are in danger of giving their wickets to him. Gaekwad would have his sweet revenge on Kuldeep’s third over. He kept tossing them too full and Gaekwad peppered three sixes in a row from long-off to long-on as the line shifted from middle to leg. It was an apparent attempt from Kuldeep to try buying a wicket, but perhaps overcooked that length a touch. How a day at golf changed Devon Conway’s life It was on a day of golf that the South African Devon Conway’s life turned upside down. He was sitting in a golf cart with his girlfriend when he told her: “‘I was pretty keen on going to New Zealand a couple of years ago’, and she said ‘why don’t we go?’. I was like: ‘Are you serious’, and she said: ‘If you really want to do it then let’s commit to it’”, he once shared with Stuff.co.nz. His parents encouraged him, and he sold his three-bedroom home and car, and took the flight to New Zealand, though couple of hours away from touchdown, he suffered a pang: "Oh what have I done?” But the worries eased soon, he made his name in New Zealand domestic cricket, and is now their prized Test opener who hit a double ton on his Test debut at Lord’s. And he is now CSK’s reliable T20 opener. They do say a long-winding day at golf can inspire big business and life-changing deals, don’t they? MS ‘Durani’ Dhoni tried but couldn’t satisfy the six-lust of crowd This season, MS Dhoni has felt what Salim Durani must have felt in his heyday: The constant demands of six from adoring crowds around the country. In three balls with the crowd pleading him to hit a six, MS Dhoni couldn’t. And he was walking away after the final ball of the innings but the no-ball siren blared, triggering more joyous chaos from the crowd. Dhoni returned to take strike and though a six didn’t follow, a Dhoni moment came. It was full and wide, and a lesser batsman might have got carried away with the expectation and cries, but Dhoni calmly let that one sail through to the keeper. It was a wide, indeed. The next legal delivery he tried his best, but couldn’t time the back-of-length delivery and the ball rolled out to deep midwicket. Don’t bowl length or short to him; back of length skidders are the ball that has generally kept him quiet this season. Prithvi Shaw downed again by his nemesis: the error-prone bat-lift Until he sorts that downward bat swing, that can alarmingly go as wide as gully before desperate attempt to get it down straighter closer to his body ensues, Prithvi Shaw will continue to be inconsistent. And occasionally combust as easily as he did against CSK. It was an off-cutter from Tushar Deshpande, and Shaw dragged his bat back and went on the up, but could only send it aerially to right of mid-off where Ambati Rayudu took a neat tumbling catch. Shaw stood there briefly and as he walked away, he shadow practised that downward swing. Too lat DC fail to read the pitch Until the end, the Delhi Capitals’s bowlers didn’t quite realise the nature of the pitch where the ‘old’ ball had begun to stop. Watching from the Chennai dug out was Michael Hussey who read the pitch for the broadcasters and said how the soft ball began to behave. His seamers took the cue from the start, dealing in slower ones that ended in wickets of Prithvi Shaw, Phil Salt and Rilee Roussow. If you don’t read the pitch, on top of being saddled with a tame bowling attack, then the points table position isn’t a surprise despite the presence of Ricky Ponting, Sourav Ganguly, Shane Watson, Ajit Agarkar. “Dheere bhi daal sakta hai beech me!” MS Dhoni makes his old meme cry “Dheere bhi daal sakta hai beech mey (you can bowl the odd one slower as well) is one of the early MS Dhoni memes that carried his myth virally. It was his advice to his bowler, usually a spinner, usually Ravindra Jadeja. Deja-vu hit again (and undoubtedly it would be a viral meme soon)on Saturday evening. In the 11th over, as David Warner stook strike, Dhoni cried out that old advice to bowl slow to Jadeja. A ball and a single later, Jadeja too off the pace on a slider, and it was skied up for a catch by Yash Dhull Jadeja cast a look at his captain and sported a lovely smile. Some things never change. Warner Vs Pathirana or Tendulkar vs McGrath Not quite Sachin Tendulkar vs McGrath but almost. Matheesha Pathirana hurled a slower bouncer and Warner expected it to rise more or lost sight of it as he was beaten by the slow pace that he took his eyes off the ball, yanked his head away even as he ducked. The ball hit him on the back, just above the stumps. Was Daryl Harper watching this one somewhere? "I look back on that 'Tenducker' decision every day of my life," Harper had told Asianet Newsable couple of years ago. "It's not that I sleep badly or have nightmares and replays dancing through my brain. When I walk through my garage, I am confronted by a huge canvas print of Sachin and Glenn McGrath, taken momentarily after the ball made contact. You may be disappointed to know that I'm still extremely proud of that decision because I considered the action before me and applied the law without fear or favour." Warner, IPL records and frustration despite an attacking 86 David Warner scored 86 and crossed 500 for the season for 7th time in an IPL season but spent his last few minutes of the chase, muttering away in frustration. Inexplicably, he just got 6 balls to face after the 16th over; he shook his head at fall Aman Khan’s dismissal and cried out at Lalit Yadav, who took the second run without calling, leaving Warner to rush across: “Talk mate! I can’t hear you!”. And then, he holed up to long-on, failing to pick a slower one from the slinger Pathirana and walked away rather sombrely. No other batsman has crossed 500 as many times as he has in an IPL season. He has won the title as well as a captain. And after starting this season poorly, he found form to score big but hasn’t found much support. And there are question marks against his selection for the Ashes as his record in England in Tests is pretty poor. All said and then, this could be his last year as an international player. But then IPL is always there.
