IPL 2021: Ravindra Jadeja's amazing athleticism cuts short KL Rahul's stay at the crease

Ravindra Jadeja is renowned as arguably the best fielder in the world. His antics on the field are often the talking point of the town. And once again during match 8 between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Jadeja made his presence felt early stunning the viewers with his amazing fielding effort.

After losing the toss, the Punjab side was hoping for KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal to get them off to a good start like they did in the previous game. But that wasn’t the case. The latter was castled by Deepak Chahar in the first over itself and the onus then was on Rahul to hold one end. His last three scores at the Wankhede were in excess of 90 and many felt the Karnataka lad will do his job yet again.

But Ravindra Jadeja cut short his stay at the crease with a sensational run-out effort. In the 3rd over, Chris Gayle poked the ball from Deepak Chahar in front of the backward point fielder even as he looked for a single with his skipper. But KL Rahul just hesitated in the middle before taking off and that was enough for Jadeja to catch him short.

The man got hold of the ball at the perfect bounce and had only one stump to aim at. But that didn’t matter to Jadeja as he effected a direct hit to catch the Punjab skipper inches short of his crease. It was a brilliant effort and replays confirmed that KL Rahul should walk back to the pavilion.

Here’s the video:

You don't run a risky single to Sir Jadeja, You just don't. pic.twitter.com/dI8XZ80ync

— Abhi (@AbhiDusted) April 16, 2021

Punjab Kings lose four wickets in the powerplay

Both the teams didn’t change their playing XIs from the previous game. But Punjab Kings got off to the worst possible start. Once their openers got out, there seemed to be a panic of sorts in the dug-out and Deepak Chahar stunned them with some superb bowling.

He knocked off Agarwal and after Rahul’s run-out, he managed to send back Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda and Nicholas Pooran to leave the opposition reeling. He ended his stunning four-over spell with the figures of 4/13.