da marjack bet： S Rajesh looks at the Plays of the Day for the second semi-final between Australia and India in Durban
S Rajesh in Durban22-Sep-2007
Sreesanth’s demonic expressions and wild celebrations were as dramatic as the dismissals © AFP
One ball four, next ball out
Virender Sehwag was hampered by a groin strain very early in the innings,but when he stood up and square-drove Mitchell Johnson for his first four,it seemed he might have shrugged off the discomfort of the injury. Nextball, though, a slash resulted in an edge, and Australia had nailed asignificant breakthrough.Carry on Yuvraj
After his stunning assault on England, Yuvraj Singh was forced to missThursday’s match against South Africa due to tendonitis, but hedemonstrated he was still in pretty good nick when he walked out to bat inthe ninth over here. The second ball he faced, from Stuart Clark, wasslightly short, and Yuvraj was on to it in a trice, swivelling and pullingit high over square leg to get off the mark in style, and serve a warningto the Australians.Clark taken to the cleaners
In five matches before this one, Clark had gone at 5.3 runs perover, and taken 12 wickets. Today, though, he found his match in Yuvraj.The 14th over of the innings was Clark’s last of the match, and Yuvrajmade it a memorable over for the Indians – the first ball was carved overcover, and a misjudgment by Brad Haddin at the cover boundary turned whatshould have been a dismissal into a four. The next three balls all wentfor two, before Clark tried a slower ball, which Yuvraj picked fromoutside off and deposited over square leg for six to get to a 20-ballfifty. And when he tapped the last ball of the over for a one-bounce fourover point, Clark had gone for 21 off the over – that’s more than 20% ofthe runs he had conceded in all the previous games.Sreesanth gets his act together
Sreesanth had struggled for direction against South Africa, but here hisradar was spot on. In his second over – the fourth of the innings – he dideverything other than actually taking a wicket, beating Matthew Hayden fourtimes in six balls. Next over, Adam Gilchrist wasn’t quite as lucky,driving from the crease and leaving a huge gap between bat and pad. Theball crashed through, and Sreesanth’s demonic expressions and wildcelebrations were as dramatic as the dismissal itself.Hayden starts to roar
The start was hardly fluent for Hayden, but when Joginder Sharmawas introduced into the attack, Hayden realised it was time to flex hismuscles. Getting down on his knee, Hayden swung one so mightily that theball soared over midwicket, and right out of the stadium. A replacementball had to be quickly summoned.Out or what?
Irfan Pathan pitched it short, Brad Hodge pulled, and Joginder tooka sharp catch at short fine leg. It looked like a clear dismissal, butthen Joginder did something quite unusual – he rifled the ball back to thewicketkeeper almost as soon as he caught it, prompting Hodge to put hisbat back in the crease and turn towards the umpire quizzically, as if toask “Was that a no-ball ump?” It wasn’t, and Hodge had no option but totrudge back.Aussie men at work
With Hayden and Andrew Symonds going strong, Australia were cruising at129 for 2 after 14, and latching on to the mood, Funky B, the DJ, beltedout Men at Work’s . Instead of inspiring Australia, it jeedup Sreesanth, who bowled another ripper that crashed into Hayden’s offstump.Sorry, mate
Third ball of the 19th over: RP Singh goes for the yorker, the ball slipsout of his hand, and heads straight towards Haddin’s face. Haddin’sgloves get in the way to prevent serious injury, and immediately there areapologies all around. Mahendra Singh Dhoni walks up to the batsman to saysorry, while Singh puts his hand up to acknowledge his mistake – evenMichael Atherton would have been convinced that this was a genuineapology. Haddin certainly was.