da lvbet： S Rajesh provides the Plays of the day from the match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
S Rajesh in Johannesburg18-Sep-2007
Aftab Ahmed cameo was brief but entertaining © Getty Images
Caught between the legs
This one will surely be one of the top contenders for the bizarredismissal of the tournament. Upul Tharanga bottom-edged an intended pull,but Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh wicketkeeper, ingeniously knew exactlywhen to bring his legs together so that the ball would nestle in nicelybetween his thighs. Tharanga was aghast, but Bangladesh weren’tcomplaining.No-ball him, ump
Off the sixth ball of the ninth over, Kumar Sangakkara tried an ungainlyreverse-sweep and missed. That should have been the end of the over, butthe eagle-eyed Sangakkara had spotted only three fielders in the ringinstead of four, and promptly brought it to the notice of the umpires anddemanded a no-ball, which he promptly got. Someone pointed out in themedia centre that it’s a good thing that the free-hit rule is only inplace for front-foot no-balls. Otherwise, with the field not allowed tochange for the free-hit delivery, we might have seen an endless loop ofdeliveries with three fielders in the ring, all of which would have beencalled no-balls as well. Now that wouldn’t have been very interesting towatch, would it?Sweet, but far too short
Aftab Ahmed strode to the crease, and immediately the tempo of the gamechanged. The first ball he faced, from Chaminda Vaas, was clouted over thebowler’s head for three. More frenetic hitting followed in the next over,as he clipped Dilhara Fernando twice through midwicket and then chargeddown and blasted him through the covers. Seventeen runs in six balls wasexciting stuff, but unfortunately it was too exciting to last long.