Watch: Gavaskar, Manjrekar totally flabbergasted at Suryakumar Yadav's 'action-replay' of a catch in IND vs NZ 3rd T20I
Sunil Gavaskar and Sanjay Manjrekar were left flabbergasted with Suryakumar Yadav's fielding skills during the third T20I between India and New Zealand.
India grabbed a 2-1 series-clinching victory vs New Zealand in the third T20I of the three-match series, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on Wednesday. Chasing a target of 235 runs, New Zealand were bowled out for 66 runs in 12.1 overs, courtesy of some fine fielding by none other than Suryakumar Yadav. The 32-year-old took three fantastic catches as the visitors faced a disastrous collapse. India captain Hardik Pandya was in brilliant form and bagged a four-wicket haul. Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik and Shivam Mavi were also in good bowling form and scalped two dismissals each respectively.
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During the match, commentators Sanjay Manjrekar and Sunil Gavaskar were impressed with India's display, especially of Suryakumar's first two catches. In the fifth delivery of the first over, Finn Allen received a length delivery from Hardik, outside off, which he outside edges over first slip, but Suryakumar had other plans, timing his jump to perfection and plucking the ball out of thin air. His next catch left the commentators totally flabbergasted in the third over. In the fourth delivery of the over, Glenn Phillips received a hard length ball from Hardik, outside off, which he tried to cut but instead got a thick outside edge and Suryakumar completed a flying catch at first slip to send the batter back to the pavilion. On both occasions, the bowler was Hardik.
Watch SKY's fabulous catch below:
After his catch in the third over, Manjrekar exclaimed, "Now is that action-replay? Fairytale stuff this. Good ball to begin with and another sensational catch!"
"Top-class catching. The length and the line around the off-stump. This is a pitch where there is a little extra carry for the proper bowlers and that is what Hardik Pandya is doing. He is hitting the ball into the pitch and getting that extra bounce and again the timing of the jump. Unbelievable again. It looks like an action-replay of that first catch, which got rid of Finn Allen. This a big wicket", Gavaskar added.
Suryakumar would go on to complete a third catch in the evening when he plucked a sharp catch at deep midwicket to dismiss NZ captain Mitchell Santner. Shivam Mavi dropped the ball midway and Santner, hoping to clear the boundary, could not get the elevation, but an alert Suryakumar once again timed his jump to perfection and took the catch inches inside the ropes.
Initially, Hardik won the toss and opted to bat. Opener Shubman Gill was in red- hot form and hammered an unbeaten knock of 126 runs off 63 balls, packed with 12 fours and seven sixes. Meanwhile, Rahul Tripathi clobbered 44 runs off 22 deliveries, including four fours and three sixes. For New Zealand's bowling department, Michael Bracewell, Blair Tickner, Ish Sodhi and Daryl Mitchell bagged a wicket each.
