5 best one-handed catches in Test cricket
A cricket coach or any rudimentary coaching manual always advises cricketers to go for catches with both hands, since the possibility of grassing the catch is minuscule in that case. However, in an actual game of cricket, fielders often have to improvise and catches might go unclaimed if players try to stick to the coaching manual. Therefore, sometimes, the best option is to go for it one handed.
However, at the same time, catching one handed is difficult and more often than not, it is a case of superb reflexes, anticipation and closing one's fingers at the right moment. A cricket ball is pretty hard and catching it one-handed can be extremely tough, which is why most attempts at a one-handed catch are unsuccessful.
Hence, the ones which actually do come off are quite remarkable and here is a list of the best one-handed catches that have ever been taken in Test cricket.
#5 Rahul Dravid vs West Indies, Kolkata 2011
Indian batting legend Rahul Dravid holds the record for the most number of catches in Test cricket, with a tally of 210 and along the way, he took plenty of superb catches at first slip. The one-handed catch he took at first slip against the West Indies at Kolkata in 2011 is surely one of the best catches he has ever taken and without a doubt, one of the finest one-handed catches that have ever been taken in Test cricket.
During West Indies' second innings, left arm off-spinner Pragyan Ojha turned one sharply from around the middle stump to catch the outside edge of wicket-keeper Carlton Baugh's bat. The ball flew towards where gully should have been but Dravid threw himself to his right and came up trumps by catching it with his right hand as the ball was dipping to complete a stunning catch.