England vs India 2018: Four catches dropped by Indian fielders in the first Test
Of late, the Indian team has been struggling to rack up wins in spite of doing well with both bat and ball outside Asia. But the real nemesis for Virat Kohli and co., and even MS Dhoni and co. has been the dropped catches by the fielders, especially in the slip cordon.
An average Indian cricket fan can easily name a handful of catches the Indian slip fielders have put down in the past. There were as many as four dropped catches in the first Test against England at Edgbaston.
Though four dropped catches is less compared to the standard the Indian slip cordon has set for itself, dropping those catches proved costly for Kohli's men. This match had a lot of quality when it came to batting and bowling but the same cannot be said of the fielding as even the England fielders, especially David Malan, dropped a few catches.
Let us take a look at all four catches and the runs each catch cost the Indian team over the last three days.
Ajinkya Rahane
The Indian slip fielders are known for dropping catches in Test matches and if you have to handpick the best fielder of the lot, it has to be Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane is quality when it comes to standing in the slips for spinners but he rarely fields in the slips for the fast bowlers as gully is his designated fielding position when a pacer is operating.
Still, it is safe to say that he has the safest pair of hands in the current Test side. But, to everyone's surprise, Rahane was at the receiving end of criticisms when the first catch of the match was dropped. It happened as early as the sixth over of the game when Ishant Sharma drew the edge of opener Keaton Jennings' bat by bowling a lovely delivery on off-stump that curved across the batsman.
The ball was a bit low and was going straight to the third slip fielder Virat Kohli but Rahane dived across to his right and shelled it. He managed to get both his hands on the ball but failed to hang on. Soon after, Kohli claimed that the catch was coming his way, but there are chances that the ball could have landed short of the Indian skipper at third slip and Rahane managed to reach the ball before he grassed it.
Jennings was dropped on nine and went on to score a steady 42 before he was castled by Mohammed Shami.