IPL 2021: Sir-Lord guarding Kings’ galaxy, always angry Chahar, Gill-Dhoni play Tom & Jerry

Emotional Rollercoaster: Hot heads, calm minds and everything in between at the game

Sir-Lord guarding Kings’ galaxy

Against a team of knights, Chennai Super Kings needed a Lord and a Sir to pull things back. Annointed Lord Shardul and Sir Jadeja, they bowled four overs in the middle in tandem and gave away just 20 runs. Lady luck was smiling on Kolkata Knight Riders.

A leading edge from Venkatesh Iyer fell inches short of a diving Faf du Plessis. MS Dhoni took a sharp catch of Rahul Tripathi off Sam Curran, but it was a no-ball for height.

Only in T20 cricket, can a perfectly well-directed bouncer be called a no-ball, not for overstepping. Riding their luck and some lively hitting, KKR were 50/1 in five overs. Shardul Thakur came and induced an edge behind the stumps from Iyer in his very first ball. Why the batsman asked for a review was anybody’s guess and Iyer walked back admonishing himself.

Ravindra Jadeja bowled his overs through, out-guessing Tripathi in the process.

By the time the latter realised that his attempted reverse sweep was a little too pre-meditated, he was clean bowled. Tripathi was livid with himself. Jadeja had spun CSK into ascendency.

Always angry Chahar

With his braided locks, eye-piercing stare, and penchant for snarls and verbals, Rahul Chahar has all the requisites of a pantomime villain. He clearly was one on Sunday evening. He didn’t take kindly to KS Bharat slog-sweeping him after he had beaten him with his first ball and then induced a leading edge. In his next over of an intense game, Virat Kohli flayed him for a four before Hardik Pandya dropped a difficult catch at point.

Compounding his woes, Bharat smacked him over deep square-leg. Chahar was furious, with himself and the world. But the very next ball, he undid Bharat with a clever change of pace, and he vented out all his anger. Eyeballs jumping out of the socket, veins popping on his neck, he frenziedly kept punching the air and even punched at the gloves of wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock. He almost charged toward Bharat for a send-off, before he was whisked away by Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah. A stormy petrel so to say.

Gill-Dhoni play Tom & Jerry

A cat-and-mouse game eventually weighed heavy on Subhman Gill. The Kolkata Knight Riders opener targeted the extra cover and mid-off region against Deepak Chahar, but MS Dhoni was one step ahead.

In the mid-day desert heat, Chahar barely had any swing to his assistance, a breeze notwithstanding. Dhoni took out second slip after the very first ball and put Moeen Ali at short extra cover. Gill accepted the challenge. He danced down the track and cleared Faf du Plessis at mid-off.

Then he drove uppishly past Moeen for another four. Chahar responded with an incutter and trapped Gill in front. DRS overturned the on-field LBW decision and Gill looked relieved, but Dhoni’s game was putting him under pressure.

Rotating the strike was a good option, but he erred in his judgement. A 36-year-old Ambati Rayudu knocking down the stumps with a direct hit from mid-wicket added to his misery. Gill returned to the dug-out disappointed.

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