Supermen of IPL 2021: Top 5 catches so far

In IPL, "catches win matches". The reality is, catches win our hearts too, even if they don't result in victories. Like a century can't be predicted, a stunning catch is always comes out of the blue in the IPL, but somehow ends up capturing the popular imagination more than a game-defining 100. Maybe it stays with us for long because it reminds us of our abilities as humans to turn the impossible into possible.

Today, we'll take a look at 5 instances of extraordinary fielding in IPL 2021 so far that proved not all superheroes wear capes. Some wear jerseys too.

#1 Sam-son of a gun

Sanju Samson taking a stunner behind the wickets

RR skipper Sanju Samson may not have found much luck with the bat yet in IPL 2021, but behind the stumps he has proven to be a true monarch. In this IPL’s Match 7 - RR vs Delhi Capitals, Shikhar Dhawan moved across against Jaydev Unadkat and tried to scoop him past the wicket-keeper. Luckily for the Royals, their IPL captain was behind the stumps and produced a stunner by leaping to his right and grabbing the ball single-handedly.

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#2 The Thala of fielding

Arguably the best fielder of CSK in action

If MS Dhoni is the Thala of CSK, Ravindra Jadeja has to be the Thala of fielding. One of the most talked about fielders in modern-day cricket, Jadeja never fails to make it to the list of top catches in every IPL. In the CSK vs Punjab Kings game this mind-coveringcked a mind-blowing catch at cover to dismiss Chris Gayle. As the Universe boss lofted a knuckle-ball off Deepak Chahar’s bowling, Jadeja stretched towards his wrong side and made a complete stunner look like a cakewalk.

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#3 No beginner's luck

Chetan Sakariya after picking a catch at short fine-leg

Young Chetan Sakaria has proven to be a great find for the Royals in this IPL. After havinoutings withgreat outingswith the ball, he set the tournament on fire with his fielding in the Royals' match against the Punjab Kings. When Nicholas Pooran pulled a short ball towards fine-leg, Sakariya, who was placed there, sprung to his left and clutched the ball with both hands. Though RR had lost that match, he became a great talking point.

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Check out the complete list of IPL teams and squads here.

#4 Running backwards

Rahul Tripathi after taking a catch running backwards

Rahul Tripathi has proved to be a great batting asset time and again in the IPL. In the first half of this IPL, the 30-year-old shocked everyone with his catch running backwards in KKR's match against RCB. And that too, the catch of Virat Kohli.

As Kohli lofted the ball over covers to utilise the field restrictions, Rahul ran backwards from the 30-yard circle to get Kohli’s out with a perfect dive forward. Safe to say, this reminded us of the famous Kapil Dev catch in the 1983 World Cup final to dismiss the great Sir Vivian Richards.

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Get the list of the most catches in IPL here.

#5 The catch of every IPL tournament

Ravi Bishnoi celebrating the catch of the tournament

If you consider the top 10 catches since IPL's inception, this would definitely feature in the top 5. In the Kings vs KKR match, when Sunil Narine pulled the ball over mid-wicket off Arshdeep Singh's bowling, Ravi Bishnoi covered a distance of 30 metres from square-leg to take a stunner. This effort by Bishnoi had the commentators on their feet and was dubbed “The catch of every IPL tournament" by Kevin Pietersen.

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