South African pacer Dale Steyn announced his return to cricket with stunning figures of 5/66 in the first innings for Hampshire in a county match against Yorkshire.
The carnage started with Steyn dismantling Cheteshwar Pujara’s stump that made him walk back to the dressing room for a duck. This was the second time in three days that Pujara was the at receiving end of the ‘Steyn-Gun’.
Earlier, Pujara was caught in slip for a nought in the semi-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup on Monday, 18 June. After Steyn went through Pujara’s defense leaving his stumps rolling on the ground, the Indian batsman was reminded of his struggle against the former world number one Test bowler in his previous matches.
Yorkshire managed to put up a fighting 350, largely due to Garry Balance’s gritty 109 and Harry Brook’s supporting act of 79.
Returning with the pink ball during the twilight hours, Steyn gave the breakthrough for Hampshire returning Garry Balance with a short ball.
Balance who suffers from colour blindness, faced difficulties with the pink-ball under the artificial lights and could not pick up the short ball from Steyn.
Steyn’s figures would be a welcome news for him as he showed good signs ahead of his return to Test cricket against Sri Lanka next month.
(With inputs from Cricket|Network.)
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