Marcus Stoinis’ record-breaking ton outweighed Ruturaj Gaikwad’s class hundred on Tuesday. (Sportzpics)
Stoinis, the ice-veined finisher
Marcus Stoinis knew exactly what he had to do in the last over, with his side requiring 17 runs against a deadly bowler at the death, Mustafizur Rahman. Shuffle across, keep your shape and swing down the line. If he gets at least a decent part of the wood, the ball would soar over the ropes. Mustafizur, he knew, wouldn’t go short. He would destroy those. He would not, bizarrely, slant it across from around the off-stump. Effective though the ploy was against Stoinis early on, it risked granting him unnecessary width. So the Australian waited, ready to swing his hulk-like arms down the line. Mustafizur tried to bowl a full-pelt yorker, missed it and Stoinis got under the ball and skinned it over the bowler’s head. It was almost like the game half one. The Bangladesh seamer would capsize. A length ball followed—Stoinis gleefully pummeled down the ground. Hope had deserted the yellow canyon. In the heat of the moment, Mustafizur lost his belief in cutters. He attempted another yorker, which turned out to be a low full-toss that Stoinis threw his kitchen sink at. It whistled off his bat’s edge. By now, the bowler and his teammates were convinced that this was not their night. It was the night of Stoinis, the ice-veined finisher they call the Hulk.
Have a look at those emotions 🥳
The Lucknow Super Giants make it 2/2 this season against #CSK 👏👏
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— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 23, 2024
Spidery grab
A ball ago, KL Rahul had moved the first slip to almost second slip. There was not much sign of lateral movement and men behind seemed superfluous. Matt Henry, the Kiwi quick, was not entirely pleased. But he didn’t object to his captain’s decision. The next ball was fuller, moved away a fraction and kissed the edge of Ajinkya Rahane’s flashing blade. The edge seemed chunky enough to evade KL Rahul and burst through where the first slip would have been. But Rahul lunged sideways, body suspended parallel to the ground and plucked the ball with the webbing of his gloves, almost after it had passed him. Upon gathering himself, he sat on one knee, in total disbelief about how he grabbed the edge. He might not be as technically gifted as some of the specialists, doesn’t possess the grace of Wriddhiman Saha, or the poise of MS Dhoni, still needs refinement on several aspects, but you rarely see him spill a catch. And gently, at the ripe time, he has served another reminder of his multidimensional skill set to the selectors before the T20 World Cup.
Driving them crazy
There might not be better drivers of a cricket ball in IPL than Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was on an inspired driving spree. There were all kinds—caressed-drives of full balls, on the rise punches with minimal muscle-flex, the patted square drives. The jewel among them was a square drive off leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, against the turn. Bishnoi got a bit too full and Gaikwad merely opened his bat face at the last moment before contact and coaxed the ball between cover and backward point to the fence with a casual swirl of the wrists. From behind the stumps, even LSG skipper KL Rahul, a fine driver himself, could not but gaze covetously at the stroke that melted the inherent non-violence of this format. A front-foot cover-drive on the up off Mohsin Khan would come close. Thus, he drove the LSG bowlers mad with his driving.
Padikkal, the anti-impact player
When LSG lost KL Rahul, the out-of-touch Devdutt Padikkal ambled. So far this season, he has laboured for runs, his sumptuous touch as evasive as rain on an April evening in Chennai. The ploy looked flawed the moment he walked in, his strike rate until this game a paltry 75. He did himself or his team no favour as he continued slashing and heaving without managing any substantial connection. Somehow, he staggered to a soporific 13 off 18 balls, the strike rate a sparkling 68.42, before Matheesha Pathirana did LSG and Padikkal a big favour by removing him with a devilish length ball that clocked 151 kph and seamed back a bit to beat his tame push neck and crop. His feet were an absolute mess, firm and static on the ground. The hands reacted late to the ball and made just a formal, feeble push. From one of India’s most talented young batsmen, his graph has markedly dipped. Every batsman goes through such phases, but whoever thought of sending him as the Impact Player chasing 211 deserve a lot of plaudits.
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