Dinesh Karthik rues India's dropped catches on Day 3 of 2nd Test against Bangladesh
Dinesh Karthik rued India’s missed opportunities on Day 3 of the 2nd Test against Bangladesh as the home team managed to give themselves a more than realistic chance of beating India for the first time in Test cricket and leveling the series 1-1.
India dropped multiple catches on Saturday to help Bangladesh claw their way back into the game.
The Indian bowlers were relentless and kept inducing false shots from the Bangladesh batters but the fielders didn’t really complement them.
Virat Kohli dropped multiple catches at slip, giving two important reprieves to Liton Das. He went onto score 73 and was instrumental in taking the lead to 144.
Speaking to Cricbuzz Karthik said:
“The Indian bowlers kept creating opportunities, but we were not able to hold on to those half chances. These are critical moments in the game. In international cricket, you can't give a batter the luxury of having some dropped catches."
He added:
"We saw how Shreyas Iyer capitalized on it earlier, and Litton did the same in this innings. He was dropped on 20 and 49 and then found a way to marshal their lower-order contributions."
India’s top order has struggled to contribute in the recent past and the struggle continued for them even in the 2nd essay.
Chasing 145 to win the series 2-0, India were reduced to 45/4 at the end of the day’s play, still 100 runs adrift of the victory target.
India lost KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara early before Mehidy Hasan Miraz removed Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli in quick succession to reduce India to 37/4. Axar Patel, who was sent up the order remained unbeaten on 26.
Even in the 1st innings, India were wreaked early with the top four not managing to get past the 25-run mark.
The bowlers can't be blamed, reckons Dinesh Karthik
It was the 159-run partnership between Rishabh Pant (93) and Shreyas Iyer (87) which put India in the ascendancy.
Karthik reckoned that it has been India’s drawback in Test cricket off late where they have failed to stitch together partnerships on a consistent basis.
Karthik said:
“It is wrong to criticize the Indian bowlers. Yesterday, the partnerships that happened before and after Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer hardly contributed in any way. That has been India's Achilles heel in this Test series."
He added:
Partnerships not developing and having just one or two big stands is never going to help you get a tall score."
The first hour of Day 4 will be very important for both teams. If Axar and Unadkat can play out the first half hour, things will get easier for the likes of Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer. A few quick wickets for Bangladesh on Day 4 will definitely put them in a commanding position.