Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The action of Indian Premier League has finally moved to the biggest stadium in the world in Ahmedabad. It was a bottom of the table clash to begin the proceedings on Monday as Punjab Kings lock horns with Kolkata Knight Riders. It was a rather slow start to the match as KL Rahul's side started too cautiously before falling apart against disciplined bowling performance.
Punjab's Rahul fails but KKR's Rahul shines
Punjab Kings suffered a terrible start to their batting innings on Monday. After losing their skipper KL Rahul (19 off 20) quite early, they also lost the wickets of Chris Gayle (0 off 1) and Deepak Hooda (1 off 4) in the span of 12 deliveries only. However, Mayank Agarwal stuck around as he was setting himself up for a big knock.
With the pressure mounting, the Punjab opener tried to play an attacking shot off the bowling of Sunil Narine in the 11th over of the innings. Against a short delivery, Mayank tried to play a pull over the mid-wicket region. He failed to time the ball to perfection with Rahul Tripathi, standing way ahead of the boundary lines, came running in and pounced on the ball. The 30-year-old made a fantastic dive and while the ball looked like popping out of the hands, he held the ball and completed a brilliant grab.
Watch the catch here:
The fall of the crucial wicket of Mayank Agarwal triggered another middle-order collapse for Punjab Kings as Eoin Morgan's side got themselves in a comfortable position.