In the Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders match last week, RR skipper Sanju Samson did not take any run on the last ball of the 13th over, allowing Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was batting on 94, to take the strike
Sanju Samson, who himself was batting on 48 runs, could have hit a four or taken a run to get on strike in the next over to complete his 50, but decided to let Jaiswal have a go at a three-figure score
RR just needed three runs to win the match, and rather than completing his half century, Samson gave Jaiswal the opportunity to strike a six and complete his second century of IPL 2023. Jaiswal, however, managed to strike only a four
This isn't the first time, selfless gestures were seen in IPL matches. In previous IPL seasons as well, there have been instances when a batsman deliberately did not take a run to allow the other player to reach a milestone or finish the match
In an IPL match in 2019 between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders, Chris Gayle said that when he was batting on 98, Virat Kohli blocked a few balls for him to help him reach his century
These types of gestures have been seen in India's international matches too. In the semi-final of the 2014 T20 World Cup, India was chasing a target of 173 and Dhoni made a selfless gesture towards Kohli
The then-India captain MS Dhoni ended up playing a perfect block on the last ball of the over, and then seemed to ask signalled Kohli to finish it off. Kohli did so with a four off the first ball of the next over, ending unbeaten on 72 off 44
In the 1999 Delhi Test against Pakistan, Anil Kumble was on the verge of history having taken 9 wickets in Pakistan’s second innings. Bowling from the other end, Javagal Srinath kept bowling wides and deliveries outside the off-stump to avoid dismissal so that Kumble could take all 10 wickets in an innings
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma holds the ODI record of scoring most runs (264) in a single innings. But this feat wouldn’t have been possible if not for Robin Uthappa who kept taking singles and gave the strike to Sharma. Uthappa only faced 16 out of the 58 balls in the partnership with Sharma and scored 16 runs