da pinup bet： Cricinfo presents the Plays of the day from the third day in Mohali
Cricinfo staff21-Dec-2008
Mahendra Singh Dhoni waited till the 31st over before throwing the ball to Amit Mishra, but the impact was immediate © AFP
Hero to zero
Two centuries in Chennai, and plenty of accolades forhis patience and back-foot play. At Mohali though, Andrew Strauss’ feethadn’t started moving properly by the time Zaheer Khan darted a yorker in.Bat missed ball, ball hit pad and Daryl Harper had a simple decision tomake.Who’s the rabbit?
Not too many people could believe what was goingon. Zaheer had taken a wicket in his opening over, but with KevinPietersen new to the crease, Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to take him offand bring Yuvraj Singh on instead. The first ball was inside-edged on tothe pad, and the next five didn’t sail out of the stadium either, thoughnot for lack of effort from Pietersen’s part. He scored just three fromthe 17 balls that Yuvraj bowled to him.As straight as can be
Soon after lunch, Zaheer got a little bit ofreverse-swing going and was pitching the ball up. A full delivery wasright in the slot for Pietersen though, and the push past the bowler juststreaked past the stumps at the bowlers’ end.Time for a change
Dhoni waited till the 31st over before throwingthe ball to Amit Mishra, but the impact was immediate. The third deliverywas beautifully bowled, pitched on middle and leg and turning right acrossthe bat to take the thinnest of outside edges. Paul Collingwood had alsomade a century in Chennai, but there was to be no repeat here.Anything you can do
Pietersen had already played some stunningstrokes down the ground by the time Andrew Flintoff arrived, but even hecould only watch with admiration as Flintoff took a stride forward andlofted Yuvraj effortlessly over long-on for a six.Reverse-sweep or switch-hit?
Harbhajan Singh wasn’t even halfwaythrough his action by the time Pietersen suddenly jumped into aleft-hander’s stance, took aim, and clouted the ball a long way over thecover boundary. He’s done it to Murali before, but it was still a sightfor sore eyes. Harbhajan was just sore.