Who let the dog in?

Cape Town:

The inaugural match of the Indian Premier League, between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, was disrupted for about 10 minutes after seven overs were bowled. The interruption was not for rain or any other interference, it was because a dog got into the ground and led the ground staff to a merry chase.

The black Fox Hound took his place at square leg near Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the seventh over with Sachin Tendulkar and Shikhar Dhawan at crease. Dhoni tried to shoo away the unwanted visitor but met a stiff resistance. What followed was a comic reprieve that left everyone in splits.

For the next few minutes, the Fox Hound was the centre of activity with players, spectators, and television viewers watching the ground staff sweating it out chasing the canine.

The ground staff did everything possible to catch the dog but to no avail.

One of the fielders - Super Kings pacer Manpreet Gony - tried to distract the dog with the red cherry but it did not care.

The Fox Hound showed his dodging skills when lured by sandwiches. He would wait for the right moment, pounce on the food and ran away.

"That's not my dog out there," joked Mumbai Indians fielding coach Jonty Rhodes.

The dog finally sprinted out of the field, but not before letting IPL earn a few extra seconds of ad-space. The television viewers had to lap up some commercials during the stoppage, leading one to wonder who let the dog in.