Dan Christian: Can bat, bowl and also ‘fly’

Pakistani opener Nasir Jamshed was blazing away, till he scooped one off Pat Cummins over mid-off.

Dan Christian is a useful all-rounder, who is most effective in the limited-over formats. He can come down the order and blow some lusty hits, and he is quite reliable with the ball. He is an excellent fielder no doubt, but in the second Twenty20 international (T20I) against Pakistan in Dubai in September 2012, Christian produced a feat, that can be termed ‘extra-ordinary’

Pakistani opener Nasir Jamshed was blazing away, till he scooped one off Pat Cummins over mid-off. Christian had to run backwards along the ball’s flight and covered plenty of ground. The ball was dying and still not having managed to reach it, Christian dived full-length, stretching his left hand. The ball stuck to his fingers and even after his hard fall, it didn’t pop out.

Jamshed’s expression narrated the tale. He was shell-shocked, but managed a dejected smile. The match ended in a tie, with Pakistan clinching it in the Super Over.

Later, Australian T20 skipper George Bailey summed it up, “It’s the best I’ve seen. Left-handed, wrong hand. He hit the ground so hard. I don’t understand how it didn’t come out when he hit the ground. He’s got that freakish ability about him, Dan. He’s pretty happy with that, as you should be. It was a great catch.”

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