Watch: Gujarat's fielding efforts gets them a shot at victory

Watch: Gujarat's fielding efforts gets them a shot at victory

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BCCI

We have often heard the quote "catches win matches" but on Saturday we saw a different aspect of fielding that almost snatched a comfortable victory from the Mumbai side and that was the Gujarat's side accurate throws.The home side struck four times through direct hits and forced a super over.

When the Gujarat batting lineup posted a total of 153, many cricket pundits called it a day and predicted a Mumbai Indians victory. Sure enough, the away side got off to a flyer and it looked like the match would end hours before the stipulated time but that was not to be.Ā 

The orange brigade set a great example by highlighting the importance of fielding in a close match. The home side sent 4 Mumbai Indians batsmen back to the pavilion with their accurate throwing skills. Interestingly all the players who featured in the run-outs from the Gujarat side were left-handers.

The next left-hander on the list was Irfan Pathan who did not affect the match with his batting and bowling but surely got his side the much-needed momentum towards the end of the 19th over by fetching them the 8th wicket. Mitchell McClenaghan scooped a Basil Thampi delivery that was just short of Irfan Pathan at deep fine leg but Pathan did a great job of stopping the ball by putting in a dive. The Mumbai batsmen saw this as an opportunity for a second run and took on the strong arm of Pathan but little did they know that Pathan still possessed the agility and the accuracy that was required for a run-out and heĀ did just that when he quickly recovered from his dive and threw the ball at the striker's end to hit bulls eye. The replay showed McClenaghan short of his crease and Gujarat were back in the game.

The list would have been incomplete without the contribution from Sir Ravindra Jadeja and he delivered the goods twice to send the match into the superover.Ā On the third delivery of the 20th over, Bumrah dabbed the ball away to the off-side and Jadeja, who was at point, saw an opening for a run-out. He charged in, picked up the ball and accurately threw the ball at the non-striker's end stumps and sent Bumrah back to the dressing room for a duck. The local lad was once again in action on the last delivery of the final over when a yorker from Pathan got deflected by Malinga's boot and deflected away to point. Jadeja once again pounced on the offering and missiledĀ in a direct hit Ā that tied the match for the home side and got them another opportunity at victory. Krunal Pandya put in a full-length dive, but Jadeja's arm was too strong and too accurate for him.

The Krunal Pandya run out:

Although the match ended in Mumbai Indians favour the fighting spirit and the commendable effort from the Gujarat side won applause from all the cricketing fans over the world.

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