IPL 2024: Jonty Rhodes Rewards Deepak Hooda for Dropping Ravindra Jadeja’s Catch; Here’s Why

Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) fielding coach Jonty Rhodes presents the ‘Golden Glove’ award to the top fielders following each IPL 2024 match the team plays.

Ironically, this time he was awarded Deepak Hooda, despite his dropped catch in the match against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

During CSK’s 17th over, Hooda let a simple catch slip. Ravindra Jadeja struck a full delivery from Mohsin Khan towards long-on, but Hooda mistimed his jump, allowing the ball to sail over the fence for a six.

Following the game, LSG posted a video in which Jonty Rhodes humorously attempted to explain how Deepak Hooda’s dropped catch actually benefited Lucknow.

He joked that Hooda’s error delayed MS Dhoni‘s arrival at the crease, thus reducing his impact on the game. Here’s what the former South African cricketer said:

“I think it was a smart decision by birthday boy Deepak Hooda to let the ball go for a six, so that meant Dhoni didn’t come out for another five balls.”

MSD, Hoody, Magic Mike – Only Jonty could've done this 😂 pic.twitter.com/VBnmQwcfvs

— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) April 20, 2024

The LSG dressing room erupted into laughter, and Hooda took the joke in good spirits, playfully suggesting that it was a smart move on his part to drop Jadeja’s catch.