IPL 2018: Chris Gayle’s raw power vs Jofra Archer’s searing pace and three spectacular catches headline Sunday’s matches

On a venue where high-scoring games have been the norm, Rajasthan Royals jogged along to 152/9 despite getting a tremendous start courtesy Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson. Mujeeb ur Rahman pulled things back with three crucial scalps in the middle period before Shreyas Gopal played a valuable cameo to take Rajasthan to a decent score.

Kings XI, save Lokesh Rahul, struggled to adjust to the pace of the surface and found themselves almost messing up the run chase. However, the elegant Rahul stood tall and took them home, ably supported by a determined Marcus Stoinis.

Earlier in the day, a methodical effort from Mumbai Indians helped them thwart Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede. Suryakumar Yadav hit yet another half-century and Hardik Pandya finished things on a high to take Mumbai to 181 which proved to be a tad too much for KKR despite Robin Uthappa’s fiery knock in the run chase.

Here are the most eye-catching moments from the double header on Sunday.

The Universe Boss can still dive

While Chris Gayle’s brute power, cold stare, massive sixes and king-size life are well known to the world of cricket, one aspect of his game is rarely written about. Fielding. Despite seemingly appearing stiff, Gayle is a fine fielder and a safe catcher. On Sunday, he gave further evidence of his fielding abilities with a full-length dive at backward point to get rid of Ajinkya Rahane.

The Rajasthan Royals skipper slashed at a wide delivery from Axar Patel and sent the ball flying through backward point. Its journey to the ropes was, however, intercepted by an agile Gayle, who dove across and pulled off a stunner to dismiss Rahane.

Two contrasting Nitish Rana overs

Much to the surprise of spectators, Dinesh Karthik opened the bowling attack with part-timer Nitish Rana to counter the big-hitting Evin Lewis. The West Indian has a weakness against off-spin and Rana, returning from injury, was handed the new ball.

He tied down the batsman with five dot balls after Suryakumar Yadav had rotated strike on the first ball. Lewis seemed a tad circumspect against the ball turning away and chose to defend or nudge the ball without taking too many risks.

However, when Rana was brought back into the attack in the eighth over, Lewis and Suryakumar Yadav had settled down and the duo smashed the part-timer for three boundaries although the former was lucky to survive, courtesy a dropped catch by the bowler himself.

A bizarre soft signal and an almost blinder

With the game heading towards a tense climax, Lokesh Rahul, the anchor in Kings XI Punjab’s run chase, smashed Jaydev Unadkat to point where Sanju Samson dove and caught the ball with one hand. However, there was drama surrounding how cleanly Samson had managed to pull off the catch and the on-field umpires decided to send it upstairs with the soft signal given as not-out.

The third umpire checked multiple replays for close to three minutes and with no conclusive evidence to suggest that Samson had indeed pouched the catch, the decision was ruled in favour of the batsman, with the soft signal too going Rahul’s way.

This is where it gets tricky. When it takes the third umpire umpteen replays from several angles to come to a conclusion regarding how cleanly the catch was taken, how can the on-field umpires’ soft signal be justified? They have a spur of a moment to decide if the catch was taken cleanly or not and do not even have the best seat in the house to judge the legitimacy of the catch.

Although the catch as such might have been grassed, the bizarre soft signal rule surely played its part in helping Rahul and eventually Kings XI Punjab. A decision against Rahul might well have altered the course of the game.

The catch that changed the game

With KKR needing 51 from 21 balls and two new batsmen at the crease, Mumbai Indians would ideally be the favourites. But at the crease was Andre Russell, that dreaded big-hitter who could make any stadium in the world look small. Such has been Russell’s impact down the order for KKR that even when teams have the cream of their batting removed, the game is far from over.

Russell had ambled along to nine at a run a ball and seemed ready to launch an attack. Jasprit Bumrah had hurried up Russell with a short-pitched ball earlier in the over and banged in another one. Beaten for pace, Russell went through with the hook and the top-edge almost carried to deep square-leg.

Krunal Pandya, stationed at short fine-leg, ran backwards, keeping his eye on the ball all the while and made a perfect dive to complete a spectacular catch. The celebrations in the Mumbai camp showed just how much this wicket meant.

Mayank Agarwal’s fitness sessions pay off

“Speed and endurance are key to success in the longest format of the game. It is long-distance running that has helped me improve that facet of my game. I run around six to eight kms three times a week in the off-season and during the season,” Mayank Agarwal had said in an interview with Scroll.com after his 1,000-run month in the Ranji Trophy last year.

His “speed and endurance” seemed to have paid off as Mayank, not the most athletic of fielders, played tag team in the boundary ropes to pull off one of the best catches of the season.

When Ben Stokes smashed Mujeeb down the ground, Mayank kept his eyes on the ball, realised he was close to the ropes as he caught it and while jumping outside, threw the ball to Manoj Tiwary who completed the catch.

A stunned Stokes watched in dismay as Mayank and Tiwary completed one of the best team catches of the season.

A battle of two T20 mercenaries

When Jofra Archer, the fastest bowler of the eleventh edition of the IPL, locked horns with Gayle sparks were expected to fly. Gayle was greeted by a peach at 147 kmph by Archer and the ball zoomed past his outside edge before the West Indian could process his shot selection.

He followed it up with another cracker at 147.8 kmph which once again beat Gayle all ends up. However, the opener responded with a boundary next ball only to fend off another sprightly delivery the ball after.

The battle resumed in the next over as Gayle blasted Archer for a boundary through mid-off first ball. He got on top of the bounce next ball but could only smash it straight to Sanju Samson at point. The epic battle between the two lasted for just six balls in all but it made for some fabulous late night thriller.