We have seen players diving on the boundary, taking blinders on the follow through or running in fast and getting their hold of the ball. But, the catch taken by the tag-team of Mayank Agarwal and Manoj Tiwary is probably nothing like you have ever seen before in Indian Premier League (IPL) history. It’s a shame that the catch will be added to Tiwary’s tally and not Agarwal as he did most of the heavy lifting.
It happened in the 13th over of Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) innings. Ben Stokes tried to take on Mujeeb Ur Rahman and hit him for a six. Stokes did not time it well as the ball hung in the sky a tad too long. Agarwal was fielding at the long-off position. He got right under the ball but was too close to the boundary and his balance was off as well.
Agarwal saw Tiwary on his left and used his presence of mind and awareness to throw the ball towards him. Tiwary did well to run in from long on and was in perfect position to respond to Agarwal’s throw. Stokes got unlucky as he lost his wicket on the day he was looking good on the field. Stokes scored 12 runs from 9 deliveries and got out just when he had played himself in and was looking to open his arms.
Here’s the catch that was taken by Agarwal-Tiwary duo —
Best catch of IPL 2018!https://t.co/kT7fmy86Wp
— Faizal Khan (@faizalkhanm9) May 6, 2018
Where did that come from?https://t.co/1bTtwITA9m
— Faizal Khan (@faizalkhanm9) May 6, 2018
It was similar to a catch taken in Big Bash League (BBL) 2017-18 by Adelaide Strikers players Jake Weatherland and Ben Laughlin to dismiss Dwayne Bravo.
Here’s the video of the catch of BBL 2017-18 —
Ridiculous! #BBL07 pic.twitter.com/QY4YN6zFGg
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) January 22, 2018
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The catch turned out to be a game changer for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) as they got through RR’s middle order after that. The catch shifted the momentum towards KXIP. Mujeeb inflicted more pain in his next over as he took the wicket of Josh Buttler and on the next delivery, clean bowled Jofra Archer, who went for a golden duck.
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Mujeeb was on a hat-trick but could not get the better of Krishnappa Gowtham. The 17-year-old ended his spell with the bowling spell of three wickets for 27 runs in his full quota of 4 overs.
