Snapshots: The magic of television

The Pune bug strikes again

There's a word in German - Verstehen - which means putting yourself in someone's shoes to understand their situation better. Steve Smith, the Rising Pune Supergiant skipper, perhaps understood Matt Renshaw's predicament from the Pune Test today. Renshaw had retired hurt in the first Test between Australia and India because of an upset stomach. In Pune's second home game against Delhi Daredevils, Ajinkya Rahane had to skipper the side in the absence of regular skipper Smith who was "ill". When asked what had happened to Smith, Rahane, with a wry smile, revealed he had an upset stomach.

That said, it's been a good couple of months for Rahane. He made his IPL captaincy debut, as a result. Earlier last month, he made his Test captaincy debut too, in place of Virat Kohli against Australia in Dharamsala.

The magic of Television

That Isa Guha is a tad short is no secret. But that she had to stand on a Pepsi crate to interview the six-foot-four Carlos Brathwaite is. It were only those on the ground who could spot her stand on it to even get somewhere close to fit in the same screen frame as Brathwaite. In Mark Butcher's words - the magic of television!

Talk about a celebration

Do the Pune bowlers know how to celebrate a wicket or what? Deepak Chahar struck off his first ball of this season's IPL. The youngster was thrilled! Obviously! The pumped up youngster sprinted across in celebration after MS Dhoni completed the catch of Aditya Tare. Then, next over, when Imran Tahir struck, he celebrated in typical style, with a sprint of his own.

Throwing themselves around

Pune are a unit that have very able fielders. That skill in particular, was on display against Delhi. Starting with Ben Stokes who threw himself around in the field to save more than a couple of runs. But the highlight was Mayank Agarwal's run-out of Rishabh Pant. The youngster flung in a throw from backward point to catch Pant well short of his crease. The batsman realising that he was gone, continued running off the field. By running Pant out, however, they unleashed a monster in Sanju Samson, who took Pune apart for 40 runs in 15 balls after his partner's dismissal.

The commentator's curse

Kevin Pietersen had earlier in the game mentioned about how a commentator's life is literally spent in flights during a tournament like the IPL, where they have to fly in and out of cities almost everyday. Scott Styris, the former New Zealand all-rounder, travelled 32 hours to be in Pune for his first game of the season behind the mike.

"Cheeky Sanju"

First IPL century for the 22-year-old