Laundry-bill haters willingly dive now

Life without the star spinner may not be that bad after all for the defending champion Kolkata Knight Riders. They found amid Sunil Narine’s troubles the Chinaman wiles of stalwart Brad Hogg, at 44 the daddy of them all in IPL-8, are still a force to be reckoned with in the IPL. Which spinner worth his salt will not appreciate bowling in India in the best possible conditions for slow bowling?

There is the other stalwart Harbhajan Singh who is still clever enough to vary his line and pace to deliver effectively although his Mumbai Indians seem to be going through their horrors of a slow start like a reluctant racehorse at the starting gates. But then not all teams get off the blocks as well as Rajasthan Royals are famous for from virtually the very first IPL back in 2008.

Besides making millionaires of many cricketers, what the IPL will do in real cricketing terms is to improve the fielding beyond imagination. Who would have thought 30 years ago that the elbow-loving, laundry-bill-hating Indian cricketer would actually dive to save every possible run? It is amazing to think such a transformation could ever come about. But then does not the money make the mare go?

Speaking of every run saved being the equivalent of a run scored, there is no better example of a human dynamo on the cricket field than Brendon McCullum, the super opener of the Chennai Super Kings. He is raising the bar in terms of commitment with a terrier-like ferocity in hunting down the ball. The runs he saved in the field may well have led to the Kings scraping through by two runs in their home game against the Knights a couple of night ago.

You could say ‘Bravo!’ to Dwayne for sheer effort too. His catches in the deep have an electrifying effect and his enthusiasm in bowling at the death also comes with a Caribbean sense of fun. His three dot balls in the final over saved the Kings too as 17 in an over is not something that leaves chasing teams quaking these days.

In the old days, if the opposition had to make 17 runs in three balls to win, the fielding team would have big smiles on their faces already. In the era of T20, the suspense remains almost to the end. A six straight up stretches the suspense for another ball at least but a boundary off the next means only one team should win. But, the nerves are shredded by then in the thick of action rendering the bowler nervy enough to do something foolish like a no ball or a chest high full toss from a failed yorker.

In the end, only two runs separated the teams after a difficult run chase in which the old ball did not come on to the bat like the new. That single factor would have been sufficient to send the match betting market on a crazy see-saw. Much the same happened in the game that went down to the Super Over, but only thanks to the Royals’ carelessness in the final over when a defence of the target was perfectly possible.

The bowler lost his plot and the field placements were sketchy. The prize for thinking on his feet while on the field must go to the fielder Mayank Agarwal of Delhi Daredevils against Hyderabad Sunrisers who cleverly tipped the ball back into play when it was clearly sailing for six. This he did with a splendidly timed leap in the final over and the result of the game changed because of his acrobatic goal-keeper type of save. It was not the only occasion on which a smart piece of fielding helped a team snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but it was a spectacular piece of brain work allied to athleticism.