5 crucial death-over fielding efforts from Gujarat Lions against Mumbai Indians
Jasprit Bumrah’s incredibly accurate yorkers may have denied Gujarat Lions a victory against Mumbai Indians but the home team played high-quality cricket in the dying moments of the match to push it to a super over.
After scoring only 153 runs, Lions had given away 104 runs until the 13th over. But then some smart bowling by Faulkner and Basil Thampi brought Lions back in the game. This exceptional bowling effort was supported equally well by the fielders to ensure the heavy batting line up of Mumbai was choked in the final overs of the chase.
The spectacular ground fielding was a key feature of Gujarat’s inspirational performance. We take a look at the five top fielding moments from the death overs that enabled Lions to stay alive in the match.
#1 Irfan Pathan’s run out of McClenaghan, 18.6 overs
It was a mediocre IPL 2017 debut for Irfan Pathan until the 39th over of the match. He had found no buyer in the auction and was in Gujarat’s team only because of an injury to Dwayne Bravo. He scored just two runs and his only over was trashed for 16 runs. He was quietly standing at fine leg when McClenaghan brought him back in the action.
With 12 needed from seven balls, Mitchell McClenaghan paddle scooped Basil Thampi towards fine leg. The ball was in the air for a while and he had to make a quick choice, whether to run in and go for a catch or to stand back and prevent runs.
The Baroda bowler tried to go for the catch but the ball landed in front of him. By that time, he had committed for a dive. The ball after landing spun a little and was going away from Irfan who didn’t panic and stuck his hand out to gather the ball.
McClenaghan was storming for the second run to keep Pandya on strike for the final over, but Pathan, after an effective fielding effort, quickly threw the ball directly on the stumps to find the batsman considerably short of home.
This brilliant effort by Irfan saved one run for the team which in the end, mattered a lot.