Two misses and a
NOT ENOUGH Delhi let it slip again as Royals hit a boundary off the last ball after teenager Hooda inspires run chase
NEW DELHI: There is a squash term to describe the effect of a disguised shot that can just as easily be used in cricket — for a delivery that forms a potent part of a wrist spinner’s repertoire. In squash, once wrong-footed thus, you need to hail a ‘taxi’ to get back into the game. But if you are a batsman who has just been bamboozled by a googly, the only place you are going is back to the pavilion.
The first to misread the wrong ’un during Rajasthan Royals’ chase was Steve Smith, standing in as skipper for compatriot Shane Watson for the second match. The Aussie gave Amit Mishra the charge, but couldn’t clear Mayank Agarwal at long-on. Next up was Karun Nair; another charge, but a complete miss. Not to be left out, Imran Tahir from the other end trapped Stuart Binny in front with one that went the other way.
With Tahir, it’s difficult to pick the bigger spectacle — a delivery that turns so much the other way it almost misses the leg stump, or the sprint from the bowler’s end to the circle and beyond, halfway to the boundary rope. Two rather long sprints came too late in the evening for the home team. It was the penultimate over of the match. By then his guile had accounted for Ajinkya Rahane — a googly that spun so much it almost missed the stumps, pecking the outside of leg.
Tahir’s second sprint was to the sweeper cover boundary, James Faulkner targetting the cow corner but missing completely; the first, towards Nathan Coulter-Nile at deep square leg and beyond, towards the dugout. Deepak Hooda, who had walked in with the visitors tottering at 78 for 4 after 10.4 overs, had just been sent back; by the time Tahir came on to bowl the 19th over, only 19 runs were needed off 12 balls. In between was the Hooda show.
GROOMING TALENT
Their multitude of off-field woes makes one forget that Royals have a history of acquiring relative unknowns on the cheap and using the likes of Shane Warne — and now, Rahul Dravid — to groom them. The next potential addition to that list is Hooda. Picked up at last year’s auction for `40 lakh, the Baroda all-rounder joined Ajinkya Rahane in the middle with their side needing 107 runs off 56 balls; it’s when the equation became 95 off 45 that the fireworks started. An overpitched delivery by Angelo Mathews went over long-on for six. Twice, the Lankan, who got the nod ahead of Albie Morkel, overcompensated; twice, Hooda was on the ball. The Rohtak-born Hooda — the 19-year-old was named player of the match — was helped by Delhi’s Indian players giving him lifelines. First Yuvraj Singh, the bowler, failed to gather Mathews’ throw from point with the batsman yards short; in the very next over, Manoj Tiwary helped Hooda’s pull over the mid-wicket fence for six. Rahane fell but Hooda and Faulkner carried on until Tahir sent both back in the space of four deliveries. A dozen off the final over came down to three off the last ball, but Tim Southee smacked Mathews to the boundary. RAJASTHAN ROYALS