New Delhi: It was the 16th over of the second innings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Delhi Capitals fielder Karun Nair pulled his face in shock and then a wry smile appeared. Punjab Kings batsman and captain Shreyas Iyer Smiled, too. DC spinner Kuldeep Yadav Couldn’t do anything but smile disappointedly.Moments ago, DC spinner Vipraj Nigam was taking on a desperate man. Nair was shaking his head as he reached forward to retrieve the ball that had slipped from his grasp.Twice in three balls, Karun Nair stood behind the bowler’s head — at long-off and long-on respectively, and let two chances go.In the first instance, Iyer, on 28, went for a big hit, played against the turn, and the leading edge went comfortably to Nair. The 34-year-old took a few steps forward, his hands down but not quite secure.Two balls later, Shreyas, now on 35, mistimed Kuldeep Yadav’s delivery, saw the ball drift towards Nair, the Karnataka players falling beneath him, only for it to hit the ground.Possibly, it was the fact that just five deliveries earlier, substitute Nair had a safe pair of hands at long-off, very close to the boundary rope, sending Nihal Vidhira back for 25.Iyer remained unbeaten on 71 runs off 36 balls with the help of three fours and seven sixes. That’s 43 more than when he was dropped by Crone the first time and 36 more than the second.DC captain Akshar Patel’s disappointment was evident in his post-match presentation. “We are making the same mistakes again and again. If you don’t support the bowlers on a wicket like this, I think you deserve to lose,” he said as PBKS scored 265 with seven balls to chase their most successful chase. IPL History, breaking its own record in the process.Karun Nair was not the only player to have a disastrous day on the field. Shashank Singh has been the fielding responsibility for Punjab this season. He dropped three catches against Lucknow Supergiants and added one more to that unfortunate tally. Like Karun, the batsman – KL Rahul In this case – big.The reactions were similar to what would later unfold at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The anxiety of looking at the ball from one side to the fielder as well as the excitement of the incoming ball and the incoming wicket.KL Rahul pulls a short Arsdeep Singh ball to Shashank. A flat ash shot to Shashank on the square leg boundary, comfortable height. An upside down cup, however, went horribly wrong and the facial expression changed instantly. Arshadeep’s celebration and finger wagging turned to bewilderment. Delhi Capitals supporters danced hand in hand. KL Rahul, meanwhile, was looking up at the sky in prayer.In the 10th over, prayers were again needed. Vijay Kumar Veshak came in for his second over, KL Rahul had just crossed the 50-run mark. The outside off delivery is returned in a hurry, Vaishak takes a touch on his follow through but fails to catch it as the ball hits his shin and rolls to safety.KL Rahul scored an unbeaten 152 off 67 balls with the help of 16 fours and nine sixes. He now holds the record for the highest individual score by an Indian in the IPL and third highest overall – behind Chris Gayle (175*) and Brendon McCullum (158*).Again, that’s math for you. The 34-year-old scored more than 140 runs when he was dropped by Shashank for the first time and was dismissed for 101 with Vaishak the second time around.Much, rightly, will be made of the ‘Sarpanch”s massive pursuit of PBKS, their never-say-die approach and sheer obsession with a team that has scored 264 runs and yet lost. But 529 runs, 49 fours and 33 sixes later, it was the four dropped catches that made the difference.
