SK Play of the Day: KL Rahul's sharp fielding effort sends Stuart Broad packing

A sleepy day’s play in Chennai was jolted out of its slumber when KL Rahul’s perfect throw accounted for Stuart Broad during the last session of Day 2 of the fifth Test between India and England at Chepauk.

Watch: KL Rahul’s throw finds Stuart Broad short

His effort brought an end to a fruitful partnership between the fast bowler and debutant Liam Dawson, one of the two big stands stitched by the lower order that helped England near 500 runs in their first innings.

Having made a comeback from injury recently, KL Rahul was fielding at long leg when a glance from the left-handed Broad escaped past short fine leg and hurtled towards the boundary. Rahul covered a fair distance, even as the ball slowed down on its approach to the ropes, reaching just in time to pick it up. The momentum took him past the boundary, but not before he had managed to parry the ball back in play. He entered inside the line of play quickly, and in one fluidic motion, hurled the ball back towards the striker’s end.

Parthiv Patel, stationed correctly for the throw, gathered it in one bounce and dismantled the stumps. Broad, who was ready for another run, reached a quarter of the pitch before being sent back by Dawson. He took an eternity to turn back, even as Rahul released the ball quickly from the boundary. A desperate dive from Broad ensued, but it was evident that he was struggling. The Indians knew they had got their man, starting off their celebrations.

The third umpire was referred to, but didn’t have much to do as a single replay was enough to show that Broad had clearly not made his ground.

Broad must be kicking himself for having taken the second run easy. After running the first run hard, he sauntered for the second, but the extra second from Rahul in collecting the delivery gave Dawson an opportunity to force a third run before he sent Broad back.

The Indians have been right up to the mark with their ground fielding, but haven’t had the best of days in the series as far as their catching is concerned. Fielding coach R Sridhar conceded yesterday that Indian team’s catching is still work in progress, after Moeen Ali got a reprieve early in his innings and made it count, scoring a hundred and forming the backbone of England’s chase.

Had Rahul latched onto that catch when Ali was on zero, things would have been a lot different for India. He tried to make up for the reprieve by removing Broad, but the damage had already been done till then.