Watch: Matthew Wade nearly hit on the face after Lockie Ferguson’s 144kph delivery swerves away late

In an unfortunate incident, Gujarat Titans (GT) wicketkeeper Matthew Wade got hit on his body by a delivery from pacer Lockie Ferguson in their team’s IPL 2022 encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Monday (April 11). 

Seeing the ball jump at him upon landing on the surface, Wade raised his gloves to collect it head height, only for the delivery to swirl away at the last moment and thump onto his chest. 

The Australian glover looked in evident pain the moment it happened, as he went down on his crouches to recollect composure before getting up and keep for the next ball. 

Ferguson known more for his speeds, not the movement, did his teammate Matthew Wade with a rare one that swung after it defeated the batter. 

Late-swing from Ferguson takes Matthew Wade by painful surprise 

The batter involved was SRH captain and Ferguson’s New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, who nearly edged this ball to Matthew Wade. The incident happened on the fourth ball of the 11th over in SRH run-chase. 

Desperately looking for a breakthrough, Ferguson bowled a cross-seam delivery that kept tailing into Williamson upon pitching. With no room to do anything but defend the ball, Williamson got on the frontfoot and brought out a defensive prod. 

But after forcing him to commit to the defensive push, the ball straightened just enough to threaten his outside edge. Thankfully for the batter, he didn’t get a nick. 

However, in a piece of great misfortune, the ball then went on to thump into Wade’s chest even as he made no real error. Seeing the ball come at him as it was, the keeper got his gloves in the way. But the delivery from Ferguson changed directions at the last moment and hit him on his upper body. It nearly bumped onto his face. 

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— Peep (@Peep00470121) April 11, 2022

 
Given Matthew Wade shelved the ball, Williamson and his batting partner Rahul Tripathi quickly got across for a bye to add salt to injury for the Titans’ keeper. 

Wade, who was in visible pain from the blow, went down on his crouches for some time, before recollecting his composure to resume his keeping duties.