Updated: September 28, 2020 12:09:33 am
Nicholas Pooran performed a fielding wonder. (BCCI)
Pooran’s jump for joy
It has to be the best jump out of bounds to cross borders. Somehow even better than those amazing jump and jump shots that have been normalized. Rarely has anyone contorted the leap over boundaries in an acrobatic effort to jump boundaries like Nicholas Pooran did. On the seventh change, Samson lifted the M Ashwin leggie to where Pooran was waiting on the ropes, his body already turned to his left. That body angle allowed him to jump back fully outstretched, with both hands stretched out as the ball sailed over him. When he caught it, he was completely out of bounds and falling. Somehow, unbelievably, he let the left hand, which was holding the ball, drop and continue to swing it downward in one fluid motion. And just before hitting the ground, he had released the ball back onto the field of play. His fielding coach, Jonty Rhodes, jumped out of his dugout seat and bowed in respect.
INCREDIBLE fielding of Nicholas Pooran! 😳👏 pic.twitter.com/sHSI7wouD7
– 183 * (@ Vineeth_777) September 27, 2020
Smith’s incredulous laugh
Ian Botham would have been impressed with the long jump Jimmy Neesham delivered to Steve Smith in the final eighth of the chase. Botham has taken some proving grounds including Greg Chappell with his long jumps, but this donkey drop from Neesham should take the cake. It was dug so close to him and as he turned up and forward, Smith, who was one under fifty, was shocked.
Then when the ball started to land on him very softly, a stumped Smith hit it behind the square for just a single. He raised his bat for 50, but shook his head for a moment as he processed that ball before starting to smile as he looked at the dugout and soon started laughing. Neesham had the last laugh though, slipping a nice wide yorker ball into the next ball he threw to Smith, who cut it to the deep spot.
Cottrell’s revenge salute
18 months after he found himself on the receiving end of a meme, Sheldon Cottrell got his revenge time with Jos Buttler. Last February, during a series in the Caribbean, in a cheeky comment to Cottrell’s celebratory salute, Buttler broke a six, looked directly at the bowler, and saluted him. He created a torrent of memes and gifs. Cottrell had never fired Buttler for the West Indies, but he got his chance now after he made his IPL debut this year. He only needed three balls on Buttler, but he managed to induce a catch in the middle of the field and of course he did that celebratory salute and arched back to let out a cry of joy.
Buttler didn’t look at him this time, he just lowered his head and kept walking. Unfortunately, the night would later turn disastrous for Cottrell as Rahul Tewatia turned a night of shame into the best night of his life when he looted five pacemaker sixes, putting the game on his head.
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