The Indian Premiere League season is upon us and it brings with it a few interesting gems from the cricket grounds. From Chris Gayle playfully chasing Yuvaraj Singh with a bat, to Dwayne Bravo and Doug Bollinger dancing to some south-style ‘kuthu’ beats, the IPL is packed with excitement and entertainment both inside and outside the pitch. However, a pizza delivery boy halting a match is something we were yet to witness.
On Friday, the Sunrisers Hyderabad faced off the Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Telangana’s capital city of Hyderabad. During the match, Sunrisers’ Vijay Shankar began his run up to bowl to the Royals’ Sanju Samson and suddenly stopped after Sanju indicated for him to wait. While the crowds were initially perplexed, it soon became clear that a pizza delivery boy, making a delivery to one of the guests at the stadium, had caught Sanju’s line of sight, forcing him to take a short pause before batting.
Commentator Michael Clarke was on air at the time and jokingly wished for the pizza to be delivered to him.
Earlier, in 2009, at a match between the Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians, a dog had strayed onto the field halting the game for a while until officials could find a way to get the dog off the pitch. The match took place in Cape Town, South Africa’s Newlands Cricket Ground in April 2009.
In the last two overs of the match, the Sunrisers needed 12 runs to win. The Sunrisers sailed into a victory on Friday’s match with a final score of 201 runs and 5 wickets, after Rashid Khan delivered a six, winning the match for the team. Their opponents, the Rajasthan Royals, came close, with a final tally of 198 runs for 2 wickets.
The Sunrisers’ will next be seen facing the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday March 31. The Royal Challengers are recovering from their last defeat against the Mumbai Indians, in which the latter emerged victorious, scoring 187 runs for 8.