The wily old wristspinner executed a superlative catch at the short-third region in Lucknow's win over Sunrisers during IPL 2023.
One of the greats of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Amit Mishra, showed that age is no barrier to him during his team Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) league stage encounter against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) this Friday (April 7).
Making the side as an extra tweaker on a dry, turning surface in Lucknow, Mishra produced a highly impressive spell and returned with stupendous figures of 2 for 23 off his 4 overs.
The 40-year-old fox tightened the screws on the Sunrisers’ batting line-up and combined seamlessly with left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya (3/18) to restrict the opposition to just 121/8, which was about 20 short for the deck on offer.
Lucknow later coast home with four overs remaining in the match and still five wickets intact, with Amit Mishra’s role being acknowledged all around. Yet, for all his exploits with the ball on the night, the cricketer would’ve taken the most delight out of a fielding effort he made to dismiss SRH’s well-set batter Rahul Tripathi.
The comeback man took a special diving catch to help send Tripathi back to the shed for Lucknow. Fielding at the short-third at the edge of the 30-yard circle, Amit Mishra dived full-stretched to his right and caught Tripathi, who had attempted an upper-cut for a potential boundary over the fielder’s head.
But the right-hander struggling on 35* off 40 at the time could only balloon the ball towards Mishra after being undone by a slower-ball bouncer from right-arm seamer Yash Thakur at the start of the 18th over. Desperate for runs, Tripathi went for a scoop that he could only hit to the right of Mishra.
ICYMI – A brilliant diving catch by @MishiAmit ends Rahul Tripathi’s stay out there in the middle.#TATAIPL #LSGvSRH pic.twitter.com/uJkjykYlJt
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 7, 2023
Sensing an opportunity, the veteran spinner went for a dive and pulled off the catch inches from the turf to execute probably his finest fielding effort in the IPL.
Mishra would’ve been elated to have contributed with the ball and in the field both for Lucknow and repay the trust shown by the franchise on him when no other franchise was willing to invest on his cricketing fortunes at the age of 40.
