Pic of the day: Ashwin hugs Buttler after Englishman takes stunner vs PBKS

Ravichandran Ashwin rushed towards his Rajasthan Royals teammate Jos Buttler to hug him after the Englishman had pulled a one-handed stunner to dismiss Shikhar Dhawan of the Punjab Kings. RR managed to restrict Mayank Agarwal and co to 189/5 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday. 

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Dhawan was looking to settle down. The Punjab opener had played 15 balls and was learning the pitch when Ravichandran Ashwin was introduced in the sixth over. On the very first delivery, the off-spinner went for an in-drifter. The batter shimmied down the track to clear the ropes, however, did not tim it very well. Buttler, who was standing at mid-on, backpedaled and timed his jump to perfection to pluck the ball out of the air. Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed for 12 runs. 

As soon as Buttler took the catch, Ashwin ran towards him to give a hug, leaving social media users in awe. 

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“A stunning one handed flying catch by Buttler & his bonding with Ashwin,the beauty of #IPL . Jos the superman in cricket?” a Twitter user said. 

“If you ever wanted to describe to someone what sportsmanship is, show them over 5.2 from #IPL today. Excellent wicket by Buttler-Ashwin.#RRvPBKS #PBKSvsRR,” another one tweeted. 

Look at the picture:

Interestingly, Ashwin has dismissed Dhawan four times in the last 97 balls. The batter has scored 85 runs at a strike rate of 88. 

Meanwhile, Jonny Bairstow’s half-century and itesh Sharma’s cameo propelled Punjab Kings to a sizeable 189 for 5 against Rajasthan Royals. 

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Bairstow scored 56 runs off 40 balls and looked effortless once he had settled down. He, however, failed to convert it into a big one as Punjab lost three wickets for 30 runs in the middle overs with current ‘Purple Cap’ holder Yuzvendra Chahal denting their progress with his triple-strike (3/28).

But it was little known Jitesh who came up with his career-best IPL score and lit the stage on fire with his clean-hitting skills as Punjab scored 67 runs in the last five overs to prop up their total.