IPL 2019's lighter side, Week 2: Ravichandran Ashwin's mankading, Rashid Khan's soft signals and Yuzvendra Chahal walking the Broadway

Ashwin Mankads Smith’s worries Poor Steve Smith. After his post-sandpaper removal from last year’s IPL, the former Aussie captain must have spent months nervously visualising how he would walk out to the crease on his return. Would he go with humble yet purposeful? Proud and pumped-up? Fidgety and fretful? The return of cricket’s DIY villain was completely overshadowed by the dismissal that brought him to the middle, as Ravichandran Ashwin executed a Mankad against Jos Buttler. In all the hullabaloo, Smith’s entry to the fray caused barely a ripple. Ashwin’s move did, though, bring an avalanche of angst across cricket with moral authorities, such as Michael Vaughan and Piers Morgan, queuing up to condemn the spinner’s horrific evil. Even the MCC, the game’s guardians of goodness, were unable to decide whether the King’s XI Punjab captain was within his ethical rights or a heinous spirit of cricket trampler and so published two contradictory evaluations of the incident. Ashwin himself maintained an amusingly cool aloofness, spending an entire press conference calmly acknowledging that haterz gonna hate but non-strikers out their crease are nevertheless going to get punished. The Watson wiggle As mentioned last week , DJ Bravo has a new song out and — between bowling flummoxing death overs — is now putting his long-standing marketing strategy into operation. What this normally involves is interviewing a CSK teammate post-match and then getting them, or anyone else he can find, to do a bit of awkward singing and dancing. This year, Bravo’s victim was Shane Watson who, quite decently for a 37-year-old blonde man, pulled off the thumb-waggling soca moves required with some aplomb. Sadly, King Watto now appears to have retired from his new shape-throwing career. Later in the week, he returned to his more familiar day job of bludgeoning and baiting bowlers, with Delhi’s Ishant Sharma having to be pulled away from him during Tuesday’s match at the Kotla. Khan’s digital devilry As if his right hand wasn’t problematic enough for batsmen, Rashid Khan has now developed an interesting variation with his left. Upon delivery, the Afghanistan spinner appears to be holding out with one or two digits in order to help his keeper, Jonny Bairstow, know which way the ball should turn. Or is he? Much speculation abounded that, as with so much of Khan’s brilliance, there was perhaps more to it than met the eye? Was this just a double bluff to lure gullible batsmen into thinking they had a way to decipher his mysteries? Maybe just a ruse to get them to focus their gaze away from his wrist position? Merely him predicting how many wickets he would take in the over? Probably only Khan knows. What’s certain is that even the best batsmen are already so fraught facing the young genius that they’ve resorted to begging for mercy. When the Sunriser did a question and answer session on Twitter, one query came from a Mr J Buttler of the Rajasthan area: “Can you please stop getting me out?”, he asked. Chahal takes the Broad approach Many thought Yuvraj Singh would be inducing winces rather than gasps this year, but the veteran has thus far proved to be a decent, if still a little nostalgic, pick for Mumbai Indians. His striking of spinners still makes snow look impure and on Thursday he deposited Yuzvendra Chahal into the stands three times in three balls at the start of the RCB bowler’s over. [caption id=“attachment_6364401” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Chahal was carted for three successive sixes by Yuvraj Singh. Sportzpics[/caption] To his credit, Chahal held his considerable nerve and floated up a fourth delivery, which the veteran mistimed straight into the hands of long off. After the match, the leg spinner said the initial onslaught meant he “felt like Stuart Broad”, who was famously hit for six sixes in an over by Yuvraj at the 2007 World T20. When the quote popped up on the official IPL Instagram feed, one user was quick to respond. “Hope he feels like me in 10 years time with 437 Test wickets,” wrote Broad himself with an accompaniment of emojis. Chahal shouldn’t be too perturbed by the jibe, however, as the England quick has had a particularly impish week on social media. When Cricket Australia sent a post asking which captain would lift the 2019 World Cup, Broad replied simply: “Eoin Morgan”. Fast-bowling twirler Moisture has been causing all sorts of problems at this year’s IPL. On Sunday at the Chepauk, the commentary box windows steamed up so much an unfortunate member of ground staff had to be hoisted up in a harness to clean them. It was believed the issue was caused by the extreme heat during CSK’s match with Rajasthan, although with Danny Morrison behind the mic, an overdose of hot air from within the booth may also have been a factor. On the field, dew has become almost as feared as a Kagiso Rabada’s yorker, with teams increasingly choosing to bowl first. Now, an even worse moisture-based danger has reared its head. Lockie Ferguson, the Kiwi speedster, has complained that humid subcontinent conditions are playing havoc with his moustache maintenance and forced him to remodel his top lip style. Although the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowler revealed that his new look Salvador Dali tache was inspired by Shikhar Dhawan, he admitted it was also a matter of practicality. “I have had a moustache for a year or two but just this year I have started twirling the moustache to make sure it stays that way while I am playing,” he explained. “It is difficult to keep it up in sweaty weather conditions but I am happy that it lasts all day”. Ferguson’s longevity proved as reliable as his facial hair on Saturday against Delhi Capitals. The home side were cruising to victory when his extra pace saw Prithvi Shaw — another chic moustache flaunter — dismissed for 99, ultimately resulting in an unlikely Super Over. Mic chic Dream11 GameChanger of the match, fbb Stylish Player of the Match, the old favourite VIVO catch of the match. It’s always interesting to see the ever-changing list of post-match IPL awards. Sadly one yet to appear is the “Most suave foreign commentator in a sleeveless bandhgala”, the formal jacket worn during the presentation ceremonies. There’s actually quite a range of styles to enjoy: Graeme Smith looks like he’s borrowed a body warmer from Bear Grylls; Michael Clarke, as with whatever he’s wearing, looks like a best man at a wedding who’s quietly confident the zingers in his speech are going to land; Alan Wilkins is the kindly, upmarket taxi driver who’ll help you to your hotel reception if you’ve had one too many Tamarind Martinis; Simon Doull, the stern but jovial bouncer who turned you away from a nightclub earlier in the evening. Forget all this GameChanger business. This is the most competitive award going at the IPL. For all the latest news, opinions and analysis from IPL 2019, click here For the full schedule, date, time and venue of all the matches of IPL 12, click here