Chris Jordan reveals why he took a wider route while completing second run against MI

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) was involved in a thrilling affair with Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on October 18, Sunday. Batting first, the defending champions were successful in putting up a decent score of 176 on the board. However, owing to the heroics of KL Rahul and cameos by Nicholas Pooran and Deepak Hooda, the equation was reduced to ‘2 needed off 1 last ball’ with the pacer Chris Jordan facing Trent Boult.

Hitting the Yorker by Boult towards the leg-side, Jordan easily completed one run but took a wider route while completing the second one which resulted in him getting run-out and falling short by just one inch. Thus, the match ended in a tie and the result was decided in the second Super Over after the first one also ended in a draw.

The lower-order batsman Jordan was subjected to a lot of trolling and criticism on social media for taking the longer route. Many cricket pundits and fans had held the England seamer responsible for Punjab almost losing a crucial match. Though Chris had redeemed himself by bowling an excellent second Super Over.

When that happens, you’re thinking ‘Not again’: Chris Jordan

After receiving flak on social media, Jordan finally explained why he wasn’t in a position to take a U-turn and run straight to complete the second run successfully. The 32-year-old stated that there were chances of him slipping back as he had lost his footing on the non-striker’s end.

“I know watching from the outside, that route I took to come back for the second looked baffling. But I actually lost my footing on my turn at the non-striker’s end. If I’d tried to go back in the same direction I definitely would have slipped up and fallen down.” Jordan told Wisden.com

“I changed my line to get back to the other end and almost made it; the ball hit my foot on the way too so I thought it deflected which is why I didn’t dive, and it was just short,” he added.

The Barbados-born have had a similar experience during Punjab’s first match in the IPL 2020. Playing against Delhi Capitals, Punjab needed 1 run off the last 1 ball but Jordan was out caught. However, in that match, Punjab had ended up on the losing side after a disastrous Super Over.

“When that happens, you’re thinking: ‘Not again’. It happened in the first game against Delhi, where I creamed one, middle of the bat, [Kagiso] Rabada takes a screamer and we draw that game and lose that super over,” he said.