IPL 2021: [Watch] Drama in Dubai as spider-cam saves Shubman Gill from an easy catch

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)'s Shubman Gill was the luckiest batsman to step onto the field in Dubai on Friday. In the rarest of rare incidents, the right-hander survived an on-field catch in the IPL 2021 final as the high ball hit the cable of the air-bound spider-cam before going straight into the hands of Ambati Rayudu.

The drama unfolded on the third ball of the ninth over of KKR's innings. Batting against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) spinner Ravindra Jadeja, Shubman Gill went for a slog sweep but could only get the toe-end of his bat to it. The ball went miles up in the air on the trajectory of a boundary-catch towards deep mid-wicket.

Ambati Rayudu ran forward and brilliantly avoided the glare of the floodlights to catch it. The on-field umpires were immediately doubtful about it and called upon the third umpire to check it where it turned out to be a bump from the thick wire. As a result, it was declared a dead ball and Shubman Gill survived.

You can watch the bizarre incident here:

Shubman Gill was batting at 28 before the lucky escape. To add salt to Jadeja and MS Dhoni's wounds, he hit the left-arm spinner for two consecutive boundaries in the same over to imbue some momentum to KKR's innings.

Shardul Thakur strikes after Shubman Gill's spider-cam save

However, CSK, like they so often do, came back strongly from the incident. All-rounder Shardul Thakur came to bowl in the next over and sent the KKR batsmen back to the hut in four deliveries.

Venkatesh Iyer, who made yet another half-century, was the first to go, followed by Nitish Rana. Josh Hazlewood then got rid of Sunil Narine to reduce KKR to 97-3. The responsibility now lies on Gill and Eoin Morgan to take KKR home.