Australia v India, CB Series, Brisbane, Plays of the Day

Irfan does a Muralitharan

Cricket +  presents Plays of the Day for the match between Australia and India in Brisbane

February 19, 2012

Cricket +

	Michael Hussey is about to be ruled out, and then not out © Getty Images  Enlarge
Related Links Report : Hilfenhaus and Lee seal bonus-point win Matches: Australia v India at Brisbane Series/Tournaments: Commonwealth Bank Series Teams: Australia | India

The eagerness

The arrival of youngsters has brought an edge to Indian fielding, but sometimes such eagerness comes at a cost, as Rohit Sharma would have learned. Off the second legal delivery of the Australian innings, Zaheer Khan produced an outside edge headed straight to Sachin Tendulkar at first slip… until Rohit Sharma dived in front of him and got a hand to it to deflect it for two runs.

The eagerness, part II

Suresh Raina was brought on to bowl early in the innings, and with good results. He is another youngster who takes pride in his fielding. He anticipated a drive to his right off the first ball of the 14th over, and moved too early, only to see the drive go through where he would have finished his delivery stride.

The comeback

Brought on in the 28th over, Rohit struck immediately. This was a big wicket for him personally, not only because it was a return catch, but also because it was the man he had reprieved in the first over of the innings. Between those two plays, Matthew Wade scored 45 off 67.

The button mishap

In the 29th over of the innings, Raina beat Michael Hussey - 1 then - and MS Dhoni seemed confident with an appeal for a stumping. The replays showed the back foot on the line. Some part of it may or may not have been behind the crease. The umpire couldn't really have gone wrong either way. He managed to.

The screen showed "out", Hussey began walking back, and Billy Bowden ran after him to tell him he had actually been told he was not out. Seconds later the decision was reversed to "not out". Turned out, it was meant to be not out all along, except that the buttons in the third-umpire's room were wired wrongly. It took Bowden some convincing for Dhoni, not a technophile by any stretch.

The Murali clone

Towards the end of the Australian innings, Irfan Pathan, playing his second match of the tournament, unleashed a new slower ball. He would run in as usual, and end up bowling an offbreak with the front elbow and wrist a mirror image of Muttiah Muralitharan's. One of those slower balls was a wide, and another one pulled over midwicket for four.

The non-dismissal

When Sachin Tendulkar tried to hook Brett Lee in the fourth over of the Indian innings, the ball lobbed up high towards mid-on where Xavier Doherty caught it. Lee began to celebrate, the Australians got into a huddle, but Tendulkar wasn't moving. The umpire, Bowden, moved, but towards the huddle, to ask for the ball since it was the end of the over. Australian players couldn't believe what was happening until they saw the replay on the big screen. The ball had come off the helmet.