The Rajasthan Royals witnessed two extremes in their fielding performance against the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Sunday. While a dropped catch of Rinku Singh eventually cost them the game in a four-wicket loss, the former had a moment of absolute brilliance that handed Rajasthan a crucial breakthrough in the middle overs — one that even left the legendary Sachin Tendulkar awestruck.
The incident happened on the fourth ball of the fifth over. KKR, having lost both their openers for ducks in the first two overs, had just begun to revive their innings, with Cameron Green smashing 27 runs off 12 balls, before a moment of magic from Dhruv Jurel disrupted the rhythm.
As Ravi Bishnoi saw Green charge down the wicket, he bowled a googly down the leg side. The ball turned further away as Green failed to make any contact. Wicketkeeper Jurel was momentarily blinded by the batter’s movement, yet he reacted brilliantly — diving to his left, collecting the ball cleanly, and reverse-cupping a one-handed throw at the stumps. Green failed to recover in time and could not make his ground as the ball hit the stumps.
Jurel himself was left in disbelief, and so were his teammates. And even as the commentators tried their best to sum up the moment, perhaps the highest praise came from Tendulkar.
Taking to social media, where he shared a screenshot of the dismissal while watching the game, he wrote: “Only one stump in sight, on the move, and done in the blink of an eye! Simply magnificent Dhruv Jurel!”
Meanwhile, former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen hailed it as the “greatest stumping ever in cricket.”
Jurel’s effort was followed by a middle-overs choke from the Rajasthan Royals spinners, with Ravindra Jadeja picking up two wickets. There could have been a third as well, had it not been for Nandre Burger making a mess of a straightforward chance to drop Rinku Singh on 8.
That dropped catch came back to haunt Rajasthan, as the KKR vice-captain carved out a well-composed 53 not out to help the home team secure their first win of the season. Kolkata now sit in ninth place on the points table.
Rajasthan had the chance to go top of the table with a win, but the loss — their second this season — kept them in third spot.
Rajasthan will next play the Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on April 22.
