Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Ben Stokes did not look happy with veteran commentator Sunil Gavaskar during the Sunday night fixture in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
Stokes took a shot at the commentary style of Gavaskar and tweeted: “Commentator: Such a poor bouncer if you want to bowl a bouncer, it must be over Off Stump. REPLAY: bouncer line directly over Off Stump Me: (facepalm emoji)”.
Commentator: “Such a poor bouncer,if you want to bowl a bouncer it must be over Off Stump”
REPLAY: bouncer line directly over Off Stump
Me: 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) April 18, 2021
The incident that Stokes referred to in his tweet took place in the 11th over of the PBKS innings, where DC fast bowler Kagiso Rabada conceded 20 runs. Punjab’s opener Mayank Agarwal smashed two sixes in the over, and that’s when Gavaskar criticised Rabada for not bowling the bouncer around the off-stump.
“This is a poor delivery because if you are going to bowl the bouncer, you have got to bowl it around the off stump,” said Gavaskar.
However, when PBKS skipper KL Rahul smashed a six in the same over, the replay clearly showed that the ball was indeed going above the off stump as advised by Gavaskar. The replay displayed that Rahul got into position early to hook it over the backward square for a maximum.
In the match, Punjab scored 195/4 in their allotted 20 overs, thanks to Rahul and Mayank, who scored 61 and 69, respectively, to get their team to post a massive total.
In reply, DC managed to chase the huge target in 18.2 overs with six wickets in hand. The chief architect behind the epic chase was DC opener Shikhar Dhawan, who played a scintillating knock of 92 runs from 49 deliveries. Dhawan smashed runs at a phenomenal strike rate of 187.76, featuring 13 fours and two sixes.
