WATCH: Harbhajan Singh dismisses AB de Villiers post Ravindra Jadeja’s superb catch

Harbhajan Singh dismisses AB de Villiers: The veteran Indian off-spinner was on fire as he dismissed as many as three batsmen.

During the first match of the 12th season of the Indian Premier League between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Chennai, Super Kings off-spinner Harbhajan Singh dismissed Royal Challengers AB de Villiers to bag his third wicket.

It all happened on the second delivery of the eighth over when de Villiers’ attempt to sweep a delivery from Harbhajan saw him top-edge the ball towards Super Kings all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Running in from the boundary, Jadeja timed his dive to perfection to catch the ball inches above from the ground.

With CSK leg-spinner Imran Tahir dropping a simple catch at deep square leg on the previous delivery, de Villiers failed to make the most of a goldern reprieve. Coming in to bat at No. 4, de Villiers ended up scoring 9 (10).

Harbhajan, who wasn’t even expected to feature in Super Kings’ playing XI in the first match, ended up opening the bowling for them and bowled his four overs on the trot. The veteran cricketer ended up registering bowling figures of 4-0-20-3 which included wickets of RCB captain Virat Kohli and all-rounder Moeen Ali.

Earlier, Chennai Super Kings captain Dhoni had won the toss and chose to field. Making a surprising move from the word go, Chennai fielded only three overseas players in opening batsman Shane Watson, all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and leg-spinner Imran Tahir.

On the other hand, Royal Challengers played batsmen AB de Villiers and Shimron Hetmyer and all-rounders Moeen Ali and Colin de Grandhomme as their overseas players.

Watch the full video below:

You cannot take away Ravindra Jadeja out of the game. Sample this for a catch to get the big man AB de Villiers.#IPL2019 #CSKvRCB
https://t.co/2t8T9ib8vF

— Deepak Raj Verma (@DeVeDeTi) March 23, 2019

How Twitter reacted:

Great catch by Jadeja to dismiss ABD, shows once again why he is among top 3 fielders in the world. Hetmeyer. CSK may have clinched the issue already just over half hour into the match

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) March 23, 2019

Dropped! And then caught in the deep off Bhajji by Jadeja. @ABdeVilliers17 departs for a score of 9. 38-3 after 7.2 overs. This brings our young debutant @SHetmyer to the crease. #PlayBold #VivoIPL2019 #CSKvRCB

— Royal Challengers (@RCBTweets) March 23, 2019

👑👑👑CSK k Spinners ne sirf 30 minute mai match ek tarfa kr diya😘 @imjadeja @harbhajan_singh #jadeja #harbhajansingh #imrantahir #CSKvsRCB #DhoniVsKohli

— Rahul Singh Rajput (@Royalrajputak47) March 23, 2019

Harbhajan Singh becomes the first bowler to pick first 3 wickets of an IPL season.

Vaas in 2010, Malinga in 2014 and Ishant in 2016 picked first 2 wickets of the season.#CSKvsRCB #IPL2019

— Kausthub45 (@kauSTats) March 23, 2019

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About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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