T20 Cricket News

Ground Dog Day

It was comical for the spectators and an embarrassment for the organisers. Like streakers, dogs have made appearances in cricket grounds, but what happened at the MA Chidambaram Stadium was above tolerance levels. Chennai Super Kings were given the luxury of an extra strategic time out when a dog trotted on to the outfield and refused to leave until it understood why one team's logo is a lion and the other's a bull.

Remember Newlands 2009 - the opening game of the second IPL, coincidentally involving Chennai - when another canine interrupted play? The sight of the security guard handing out a sandwich had everyone in splits then but this time there was not a single dog lover in sight. The dog emerged from the deep cover boundary, headed to third man, then to short fine leg for a five-second stretch, continued to square leg and picked up pace, perhaps realising he was holding up something. He then pierced the gap between mid-off and extra cover with such precision that none of the fielders moved. The only player who tried to shoo it away was Muttiah Muralitharan.

The dog finally headed back to where he emerged from and a spectator yelled in Tamil, "Thank goodness, that's the last of him." Or so we thought. Another one unleashed itself and the security guards once again didn't budge. Someone simply had to bellow "who let the dogs out!" The umpires didn't want to waste anymore time and called play, despite the dog merrily strolling in the outfield.

Stump or javelin?
The sight of a stump cart wheeling is fabulous as long as you're not the batsman. When M Vijay gave Chaminda Vaas the charge, he heard the sound of ball hitting wood and looked back to see something bizarre. The leg stump did a few spins but instead of lying flat on the ground, it landed in a semi upright position, like a javelin. Vijay walked back and knocked the stump down with his bat as his final deed for the night.

Two in two
Adam Gilchrist's withering onslaught had reduced Chennai's seamers to ash before the home crowd could find something to cheer about. At the end of four overs, Deccan were 47 for no loss. R Ashwin was given the ball and, with his fifth, got the breakthrough to raise decibel levels in Chepauk. He beat Gilchrist with his flight and got the ball to spin and clip off stump. VVS Laxman had a mix up with Herschelle Gibbs and was run out the next ball.

I'm afraid you have to go
Another run out, though it didn't seem like it to the batsman in question. Rohit Sharma pushed the ball to extra cover but the batsmen decided against the single. Symonds turned back on seeing Hayden gather the ball quickly and hurl it accurately to the non-striker's end. Chennai appealed and the decision was referred but Symonds didn't look concerned and even resumed his position at the non-striker's end. Even the fielders went back to their positions, expecting the appeal to be unsuccessful. The verdict, however, was 'out' and a stunned Symonds had to make his way off the field.

Dud of the day
The Mongoose didn't turn up. The buzz ahead of this game was Matthew Hayden's unveiling of a cricket bat which resembles a paddle because of its unusually long handle. However, he decided to save it for another day and walked out with conventional equipment instead. The Mongoose is designed to increase power by 20% and bat speed by 15%, and Hayden may have cleared short fine leg had he used it.

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