The silent assassin
A searing yorker and a little assistance from a slow pitch gave Parvinder Awana two wickets in two balls to begin his second spell. Better still was that he had duped Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni into mistiming the ball that was casually pouched at midwicket for a first-ball duck. Kings XI Punjab were delirious, as were their fans in the crowd. That wicket, however, had further significance. One that almost slipped by unnoticed. A sift through the scorecard revealed Awana had ended his previous spell, more than 10 overs ago, with the wicket of Suresh Raina, which meant he had produced a hat-trick.
The magnet
Faf du Plessis sprinted hard from mid-off and hurtled to his right to try and capitalise on a leading edge from Wriddhiman Saha in the third over. He propelled himself full-length and flung out his right hand but the ball evaded him by a few inches. Manan Vohra presented another opportunity in the next over when he lofted Mohit Sharma down the ground. Du Plessis ran back, but slipped a bit and despite another picture-perfect dive, could not reach the ball. Third time was the charm though as Mohit hooked in Manan with a slower ball and Du Plessis completed a far more straight forward take, if with a little flourish as he tumbled backward.
The appeal
Ashish Nehra raced after the ball, positioned himself under it and had it safely under control. Only he threw it up in the air in jubilation. He thought he had toppled Glenn Maxwell over and the appeal was so earnest that the umpires were persuaded to go for a review. The bowler had hoped for the ball to have come off the bat, onto the boot and lobbed up into the air. Everyone's attention turned to the big screen. All Nehra had hoped had happened, with one important detail that he had overlooked - the ball had hit the turf before it lobbed off the pad.
The sequel
T20 cricket in India, especially the franchise kind, seems an ever-present affair. The IPL rolls into the Champions League and the circle continues, so much that it confused Ravi Shastri. "In the Champions League, you've never had a run like this," he said to George Bailey ahead of the toss, who casually reminded the commentator that it was Kings XI's first time in the tournament. It wasn't the first time Bailey's wry sense of humour had caught Shastri out. In October last year, India had gunned down Australia's target of 360 with 39 balls and nine wickets to spare. Shastri's penchant for the obvious showed when he prompted Bailey by calling the pitch "a beauty" and Bailey quipped back with, "You think the pitch is a beauty?" with a chuckle.
The first-ball fortune
He was playing only his third match for Super Kings, his first of the tournament and is better known for his skills as a left-arm spinner. But Dhoni's preference to play the finisher's role led to an unlikely promotion and Pawan Negi was thrust in with the side at 106 for 4 in the 14th over, possibly to keep an end up with Dwayne Bravo pacing his innings smartly. However, an inviting length ball from Akshar Patel had Negi winding up and a slog sweep was hammered into the crowd at deep midwicket. His innings lasted only four balls longer, but his first-ball fortune continued when he began his spell with the wicket of Bailey, caught at short cover.