Top 5 clever moments in cricket

Cricket is a game of uncertainty – anything can happen on and off the field. As a player, you must be ready to face unexpected situations at any point during a game. It is in these situations when your presence of mind is important.

A player has to be smart enough to be able to handle them. Such a player will always be a great asset for any team in the world – a player, who has the knack of tackling tough situations in a calm manner.

In this article, we are going to see some of the clever moments that have happened on the field and proved to be a great example of the presence of mind of the players involved.

Listed below are five such instances:

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#1 Mark Boucher, South Africa vs Sri Lanka (2006)

In this match against Sri Lanka, the cricketing world witnessed Mark Boucher's terrific presence of mind when he ran out Marvan Atapattu with a flick of the ball, despite appealing for caught-behind at the same time.

While Boucher was appealing, Atapattu didn't realize where the ball was and unknowingly stepped out of the batting crease.

Seeing Atapattu out of his crease, Boucher immediately side flicked the ball onto the stumps while he was still appealing. The ball hit the wicket with Atapattu still out of his safety zone, unable to figure out what had happened in a span of a few moments.

This brilliant piece of awareness from Boucher helped South Africa get the all-important wicket at a crucial juncture of the game.

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#2 MS Dhoni- India vs Bangladesh (2016)

The former Indian skipper is known for his incredible pace and agility behind the stumps

We all know the amazing wicket-keeping skills that the former Indian Captain MS Dhoni possesses. He has now and then shown with his brilliant skills why he is considered to be one of the finest and most-skilled wicketkeepers of all time. Another such example was his stumping of Sabbir Rahman in the match against Bangladesh in 2016.

A poor ball was bowled by Suresh Raina, which was short and miles down the leg-side. Rahman went for the flick and missed. The batsman's foot was in the air for just a second, but the little opening was enough for Dhoni to whip the bails off and send Sabbir back to the dressing room.

It was a razor-quick work from India's specialist behind the wickets.

#3 Mitchell Johnson, Australia vs England (2011)

The cricketing world witnessed some exceptional footballing skills from Mitchell Johnson against England in 2011. His ploy of kicking the ball to run out the well-set Kevin Kevin Pietersen was one of the stand-out moments of the game.

Johnson banged in a short ball to Bresnan who looked to pull the ball but missed it all together. In an attempt to steal a run, Bresnan set out for a single.

Seeing an opportunity to run out the batsman, Johnson raced towards the ball and slammed it into the stumps with his right foot. Pietersen well short of his crease and had to return to the pavilion with an unfortunate dismissal.

Pieterson's run-out was a big blow for England which eventually led to their defeat in the game.

#4 Adam Lyth and Aaron Finch: Lancashire Lightning vs Yorkshire Vikings(2014)

An unbelievable team-catch was on display for the flabbergasted crowds in the Natwest T20 blast fixture between Lancashire Lightning vs Yorkshire Vikings in 2014.

Lancashire had started well and batsman Tom Smith was batting on 55 when he decided to crunch a shot down the ground.

It looked like a six at first glance, until Adam Lyth and Aaron Finch combined to put together stunning catch. Lyth managed to palm the ball back into play mid-air, while Finch was on hand nearby, taking what turned out to be a very simple catch for him at the end of it all.

The catch definitely is one of the most amazing catches that you will ever see. It was the presence of mind of Lyth to return the ball back to Finch before crossing the boundary line that sealed the deal for their team.

#5 Martin van Jaarsveld: Eagles vs Titans (2009)

This is one of the best examples of the presence of mind that you would probably see in the game of cricket. It all happened with Morne van Wyke, the batsman on strike, trying to play a shot towards fine leg.

As soon as the ball hit the bat, though, Martin van Jaarsveld, who was fielding at first

Bangladesh v India - ICC Champions Trophy Semi Final

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lip quickly moved towards his right and managed to pluck the ball with one hand.

It is extremely difficult to take a catch behind the wicket because the ball races very quickly after leaving the bat. Therefore, to take a catch and that too from a position like the first slip is absolutely fantastic, to say the least.