Watch: During the IPL match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Abishek Porel of the Delhi Capitals hit Alzarri Joseph of the Gujarat Titans for six despite a valiant effort by Yash Dayal in the deep.
Delhi Capitals replaced Rishabh Pant with 20-year-old IPL debutant Porel, and threw him into the deep end of the pool by sending him to bat to prevent Joseph from competing a hat-trick.
Nothing in Porel’s brief Twenty20 career – three innings of 20 not out, 0, 2 for Bengal – suggested that he was capable of hitting sixes against international bowlers.
Having dismissed David Warner and Rilee Rossouw with consecutive deliveries, Joseph pitched the first ball up. Porel played it uppishly, but the ball fell just short of mid-on.
Porel got off the strike, and was on four off five balls halfway through Joseph’s next over. Then Joseph bowled wide outside off, and Porel cut ferociously, with both feet leaving the ground. On the boundary line, Dayal leapt up and held the catch with his right hand, only for the momentum of the ball to push him over the line.
In the next over, Porel played the left-hander’s version of Kapil Dev’s iconic Natraj shot for six – off poor Dayal, who was taken off the attack after the over.
Porel was eventually bowled by Rashid Khan for an 11-ball 20. Delhi finished with 162-8. At the time of writing, Gujarat are 66-3 after eight overs, with B Sai Sudharsan (23) and Vijay Shankar (7) at the crease.
