Ravindra Jadeja hits back at KKR after latter’s twitter post compared Australia’s field placement to theirs against MS Dhoni during IPL 2016.
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England had their best result of the ongoing Ashes Test series on Sunday, in what turned out to be a classic advertisement for Test Cricket at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
While a win was never on the cards, England battled it hard on Day 5 of the 4th Ashes Test to manage a Draw, and thereby preventing a whitewash against an Aussie bowling attack which was breathing fire, especially during the final session of the Test match.
Joe Root’s men huffed and puffed to 270/9 (chasing 388), with James Anderson and Stuart Broad left staring in the end at the face of yet another defeat against the Aussies at their home.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins placed as many as 8 fielders around the English batters at the strike to apply the highest possible pressure during the final stages of the match.
Ravindra Jadeja hits back at KKR twitter post
Taking note of Australia’s aforementioned field placement, the Kolkata Knight Riders’s twitter handle jogged down the memory lane to compare the former with Gautam Gambhir’s field set-up against MS Dhoni during a 2016 IPL match.
MS Dhoni was leading the IPL team Rising Pune Supergiants (RPSG) franchise during that season of the league while Gambhir captained the KKR side.
The moment MS Dhoni arrived at the crease, Gambhir had placed four fielders around the former given his tendency to play himself in during the initial few deliveries of his innings.
KKR’s twitter admin juxtaposed the two images to remind their fans of a Test match-like field placement which turned out to be a ‘T20 masterstroke’ back in 2016.
Unamused by the post, Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja jumped in to comment- “Its not a master stroke! Just a show off”, perhaps trying to imply that Gambhir’s move back then was only to insult the decorated former India captain.
RPS vs KKR 2016 match- When Gautam Gambhir takes on MS Dhoni hands on
It was during Match no.45 of the IPL between KKR and RPS (Rising Pune Supergiants) of the 2016 season that Gambhir had placed four fielders around Dhoni’s bat upon his arrival- First slip, Short Gully, Silly Point, and a Forward Short Leg.
The move had become a talking point with fans amazed by the Test-like field placement before one of the most reputed hard-hitters of the Cricket ball.
The move, as anticipated by Gambhir, did pay off with Dhoni managing to score mere 8* runs off 22 deliveries at a strike rate of 36.36.
KKR managed to win that fixture by 8 wickets (D/L method) after being asked to chase a revised target of 66 in 9 Overs, with RPS posting mere 103/6 in 17.4 Overs batting first. Ironically Gambhir was dismissed for a Golden Duck off Ravichandran Ashwin during the chase.
