Plays of the Day for the match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai

Cricinfo staff14-May-2008
Shaun Pollock wasn’t giving away any freebies (file photo) © Getty Images
Dhoni bitten by Pollock’s maiden
The first ball was pitched on offstump and bounced hard. Mahendra Singh Dhoni played it awkwardly, moving forward and trying to push it to the vacant on side. He failed. The next three balls Dhoni tried to play it to the offside but to no avail. Shaun Pollock was clear in his mind he would hit the deck hard, pitch it short of a length and force Dhoni to come at him. The fifth ball of the over was one that came in and Dhoni, who had moved inside the ball, missed it completely. The last delivery was an unplayable outswinger which the Chennai captain played at and almost edged. Pollock bowled his first maiden of the tournament and Dhoni probably played the first of his life.Harper snaps it
Lonely that their job is, umpires tend to have various idiosyncrasies. Australian umpire Daryl Harper belongs to this ilk and you can read more about his life in his diary notes on his website cricketump.com. Today being an off day, he was seen posing as an eager photographer, squatting, waiting for that moment to click as the teams and the umpires took the field.Jayasuriya’s mess
Trying to clear the square leg boundary, Stephen Fleming’s top-edge, off Shaun Pollock, flew towards backward point where Sanath Jayasuriya lined up with a certainty to pouch it. Except he made a mess, flooring an easy chance. Dwayne Bravo nearby couldn’t believe it and raised his hands in irritation. Fortunately Pollock had a smile when S Vidyut skied an easy one that landed in the hands of Robin Uthappa at mid-off.Catch of the match
This could easily qualify for the catches contest. Bravo was coming to the end of his spell in the 19th over of Chennai’s innings. Dhoni had hit him for a six over extra cover and S Badrinath had tonked his full toss over long-on. But the West Indies allrounder fought back by running back to hold on to a mis-timed pull from Badrinath and claim a superb catch.Wide, Wide, Wide
Dhawal Kulkarni bowled a first – three consecutive wide balls in the final over of Chennai’s innings. No doubt, sweaty palms and the slippery ball contributed to that.No respect for Murali
Unable to work out a method to get Jayasuriya out, Dhoni placed two slips in a Test match like situation against Muttiah Muralitharan. But Jayasuriya by now had no problems reading the length and picking the hand of the bowler easily and even his long-time friend and team-mate couldn’t trap him. A reverse sweep didn’t show his audacity; it just showed his confidence.