As the tournament enters its fifth week, the drama and entertainment continues to surprise fans around the world.
High-scoring thrillers, low totals being successfully defended — the 16th edition, which has returned to its traditional home and away format, has been nothing short of a blockbuster.
Amid the thrilling contest between the bat and ball, there have also been some extraordinary fielding efforts that have managed to stun everybody into silence.
Eye-popping on-field maneuvers, high-flying, gravity-defying catches have been the icing on the cake in what has been a roller-coaster of the season so far.
As we close in on the half-way mark of this year’s competition, TimesofIndia.com here takes a look at some of the best grabs in the competition thus far.
The Jadeja blinder
The legend of Ravindra Jadeja and his bonhomie with the cricket ball continues to make headlines. A live wire on the field, Jadeja always somehow finds himself in the right place at the right time even when he is not looking for the ball.
A classic example of this came to the fore during the Chennai Super Kings versus Mumbai Indians match when the 34-year-old pulled off an almost impossible catch to dismiss Aussie Cameron Green off his own bowling.
Watch Jadeja’s super effort here:
The incident took place in the 9th over when Jedeja fired a straight ball outside off and Green whacked it right back at him. As Green middled the ball to perfection, it rocketed towards Jadeja as he and the umpire both ducked for cover. But Jadeja somehow managed to get his hands up while ducking and the ball stuck straight in his right hand as he completed a terrific caught and bowled effort.
Chennai went on to win that match by 7 wickets.
Sensational Samson’s mid-air take
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson took one of the finest catches ever behind the stumps when he flew to his right to grab a screamer against Delhi Capitals.
It was only the third ball of the match and an alert Samson produced a jaw-dropping effort as his side got rid of DC opener Prithvi Shaw for a duck.
Watch Samson’s flying catch here:
As left-arm pacer Trent Boult bowled an away-swinger, Shaw tried to play it across the line on the on-side but was beaten all ends up. As the ball took the outside edge and flew behind, Samson, who initially was blinded by the batter’s movement and was slightly wrong-footed, re-adjusted hiself at the right moment and dived to his right with his catching glove wide open. The ball stuck in his glove as Samson completed the catch and then landed safely.
Easy pickings for Aman
Delhi Capitals’ Aman Khan made a difficult catch look simple when he plucked a ripper out of thin air to remove Royal Challengers Bangalore opener Faf du Plessis.
Watch Aman’s effort here:
The incident took place in the fifth over when an attacking du Plessis came down the wicket against Mitchell Marsh and heaved the ball towards mid-wicket.
Aman Khan, who was stationed inside the 30-yard circle, was quick to react as the ball was travelling fast. He stretched to his right to get his hands to the ball. After initially fumbling it, Aman went on to complete the tough catch off the second attempt.
Markram turns Superman
Aiden Markram showed off his acrobatic skills and athleticism with his twin stunners in the match against the Mumbai Indians. The Sunrisers skipper pulled off back-to-back screamers in the 12th over to help his side get rid of two key Mumbai batters Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav.
Watch Markram’s boundary screamers here:
In the Marco Jansen over, Markram first ran almost 30 yards from mid-on to deep mid-wicket and then dived to his right to send Ishan packing.
A couple of balls later, Markram helped Jansen remove Suryakumar as he flew to his right while fielding at mid-off and caught the ball mid-air while diving to his left.
Sunrisers however lost the contest by 14 runs as they failed to chase down 193.
Jagadeesan’s over-the-shoulder stunner
Showcasing terrific composure and judgement, Kolkata Knight Riders’ Narayan Jagadeesan pulled off a superb over-the-shoulder catch to dismiss Gujarat Titans’ Wriddhiman Saha in Match number 13.
The incident took place in the fifth over as Sunil Narine went full on the stumps and Saha went for the slog sweep on the on-side. The Titans opener failed to middle his shot but it looked like the ball would fall in no-man’s land.
Jagadeesan, however, turned it into an opportunity and ran back from mid-wicket. He covered almost 25-yards in no time and then completed the catch over his shoulder.
Watch Jagadeesan’s running catch here:
Kolkata went on to defeat the defending champions in that contest.
