Half-way through the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League, the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament has witnessed quite a few spectacular efforts in the field.
While there can be diverse opinions about the fielding standards in the tournament in general, the same cannot be said about the catching.
In fact, it won't be an exaggeration to say the quality of catches taken thus far was top-class.
Rediff.com takes a look at few memorable ones.
Tim Southee - Karun Nair
Arguably, the catch of the tournament so far!
The Tim Southee-Karun Nair acrobatic relay work at the long-on boundary came about in Rajasthan Royals’ match against the Kings XI Punjab, in Pune.
The remarkable effort helped their team account for rival skipper George Bailey, James Faulkner being the lucky bowler.
In that match, which Rajasthan won by 26 runs, Southee took another blinder to cut short Glenn Maxwell’s innings.
Faf du Plessis
The South African is one of the best fielders around in world cricket, and Chennai Super Kings have benefited from his skills more often than not.
While his effort to send back Corey Anderson of Mumbai Indians was admirable, it was his blinder against Royal Challengers Bangalore that comes up tops.
Manvinder Bisla (17) top-edged a delivery and Du Plessis took a brilliant catch, running back, to set Chennai on course for a memorable victory.
Coincidentally, in both the catches mentioned above, Ashish Nehra was the beneficiary.
Dwayne Bravo
If Du Plessis has been mentioned, can Dwayne Bravo be far behind?
In the same game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and a few overs later, the West Indies all-rounder took a blinder, running in from long-on.
The effort sent Dinesh Karthik (10) back to the pavilion. Ishwar Pandey was the deserving bowler.
Dwayne Smith
Another Chennai Super Kings star made his contribution, with the bat and in the field, to ensure his team a 45-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In what was a home game, Chennai put up 209, thanks largely to Brendon McCullum’s 100. Dwayne Smith (27) had helped his partner add 75 runs for the opening wicket.
In response, captain David Warner led Sunriser’s charge, scoring 53, before a spectacular effort by Smith cut short his stay.
Glenn Maxwell
This was, by far, the best game in this edition till date. Yes, the only one that had a 'Super Over'.
With both the teams -- Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab -- having scored 191-6, it was the latter who won the one-over eliminator in Motera.
While Glenn Maxwell failed with the bat on the day, scoring just one, he did his bit on the field, taking two brilliant catches.
His effort at long-on, to account for James Faulkner, was admirable. So was the one at deep mid-wicket, which sent back the in-form Steve Smith, even before he had opened his account.
Umesh Yadav
The match against Delhi Daredevils was Umesh Yadav’s best so far.
Playing against his former team, at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Yadav watched ardently as Mayank Agarwal (1) pulled a Morne Morkel delivery and took a sprawling catch at long leg.
He returned to take two Delhi wickets, as the home team was restricted to 146-8, Kolkata winning by six wickets, with 11 balls to spare.
Yes, Yadav was named the man of the match!
