With the end of the second week of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), it’s still difficult to guess that which team is the clear favorite in this season. However, the comeback team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is once again leading the charts with four wins already under their belt. On the batting front, there are again no surprises as Virat Kohli is leading the table with 201 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 142, while on the front, surprisingly, the young leggie, Mayank Markande is donning the purple cap as he has scalped 8 wickets and maintained an economy of 7.5 in first four games.
Apart from batting and bowling, fielding has also been phenomenal from almost all the team in the second week of the tournament as well. Let us have a look at fives of the best catches of the second week of IPL 2018. (P.S – It was difficult to choose just five).
1. Jason Roy (KKR vs DD)
Mohammed Shami bowled a knuckleball to Chris Lynn and Jason Roy grabbed a good catch at long-on. Lynn couldn’t manage to get the expected elevation as he got under the full delivery too much. Roy made it look easy – that’s because he judged it to perfection and took it with both hands without breaking a sweat.
2. Shardul Thakur (CSK vs RR)
On the third delivery of the 16th over, Shardul Thakur bowled a short-pitch delivery to Stuart Binny at the off-stump, who failed to defend it in an appropriate way. The ball lobbed in the air off Binny’s bat. Thakur, who hadn’t even completed his follow-through as yet, ran swiftly to grab the catch. Binny ended up scoring 10 (8) with the help of one four. However, the match was almost over even before that dismissal.
3. Ben Stokes (RR vs KKR)
In the match between RR and KKR, what came as a reprieve for the Royals was the wicket of Robin Uthappa. On the third delivery of the 13th over, Uthappa stepped out of his crease to hit the ball over the long on fielder. To his surprise, a leaping Ben Stokes had come in the way of the ball, taking a superb catch to put a halt to his innings. Firs his caught the ball comfortably but lost his balance and was going onto ropes, then he decided to throw the ball in the air came back to take a beauty,
4. Manish Pandey (KKR vs SRH)
In which was the first over after the rain-break, Sunrisers Hyderabad gained on the lack of momentum of the opposition batsmen as Billy Stanlake dismissed Nitish Rana (18) on his fourth delivery. In which was a short pitch delivery outside the off stump, Rana played a cut shot straight into the hands of the point fielder, Manish Pandey. He dived to his right to grab the ball. However, just as he was in the air, the ball popped out of his hand. Whilst in the air, Pandey attempted to successfully catch the ball in the second attempt. He was soon gathered by all his teammates in celebrations.
5. Hardik Pandya (MI vs DD)
On the second delivery of the 14th over, Glenn Maxwell hit a Krunal Pandya delivery inside out. The ball gathered more height than distance. Hardik Pandya, who was fielding at long-off, ran in from his position to reach the ball. Having covered a lot of ground, he put in a full-length dive to grab the ball. What was important was to keep the ball in his hands after landing on the ground. Hardik Pandya did the exact same as his brother got his second wicket.
Here is the combined video of top 5 catches of IPL 2018, week 2:
https://vimeo.com/265866636
