Rohit’s pull, Jadeja’s medal and a boundary dance

Jadeja and the medal celebration

Aftertakingasuperbdivingcatchat point(orjustanotherdayintheoffice forhim), Ravindrajadejastoodupand celebratedbygesturingamedal aroundhisneck. Thestorythereisthat theindianplayershavebeenhanded outmedalsinthedressingroomfor thebestfieldingeffortaftereach matchbycoachtdilipinafunpostmatchceremony. Withklrahul(who gottheawardafterthelastmatchand istheincumbent) puttinghisnamein thehatwithadivingtake, itwas Jadeja'swaytolethiscoachknowto keephiminconsideration.

“I think that celebration was for our fielding coach because after every game we get the best fielder award from him so I was just telling him that I am also here so please look at me whenever we finish the game," he said during the mid-innings break.

Bumrah’s perfect yorker

ANY YORKER that achieves its primary objective of beating a batter and hitting the stumps is a good one. But within that spectrum, what Jasprit Bumrah did in Pune was close to perfection. To a well-set Mahmudullah, Bumrah nailed what could only be described as cricket's version of the Xring arrow in archery. In the last over of the Bangladesh innings, Bumrah hit the very base of the middle stump for a sight that you could watch on loop. Of course, followed by his casual shrug-and-smile celebration.

Virat unleashes throwback pull

FIFTH BALL of the 27th over, Virat Kohli unleashed a pull that whipped up memories of his double hundred against South Africa in the same ground. The ball was a rank long-hop, and at Hasan Mahmiud’s pace a pure gift, Kohli did not even bother shifting to his back-foot, stood where he was after the front-foot press and hammered the ball in front of the square. In the Test, South Africa’s pacers too had tried to rattle him with short balls, after Kohli had repelled all their other measures. Anrich Nortje hustled him a few times, but later on Kohli would pull anything that was marginally short.

Ma-mu back to rescuing, rebuilding

EVEN AS Bangladesh's top batting order has been critiqued for not getting starts or capitalising on them, two seasoned players who have not been raked over the coals are Mushfiqur Rahim, dubbed 'Mr Dependable' and Mahmudullah 'Silent Killer', who incidentally arrived in Pune after topscoring with rearguard scores of 66 and 41 respectively against NZ, so are in the good books of quillers. The affection from superfans and the press for the consistent Mushfiqur has stood the super-whimsical test of time, now into his 5th World Cup. He's been consistent here as well, silently keeping the score ticking with 32 off 37. When Mahmudullah, brought out from cold, tonked a few into the stands on match-eve where the pack of 70 odd were sitting and dodging his lobs, they would warn the Indians around with, "He hits those often." The two experienced batters might need to steer Bangladesh once more.