Things simply don't happen when they don't. On Day 5 of the first Test match against England at Headingley, India labored for 32 overs as they continued to hunt down wickets. There was absolutely nothing going on, either off the wicket or in the air. Everything appeared to be going smoothly for England's openers, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, until Mohammed Siraj, who bowled with all his heart, sent down the fourth ball of the 39th over, a bouncer that Duckett miscued.
Duckett top-edged the delivery to deep square leg. Yashasvi Jaiswal had the opportunity to give India the much-needed breakthrough, but sadly, the opportunity was lost when the India fielder missed his fourth catch of the game.
Siraj was livid at the dropped catch and he made his frustrations known. As the camera panned to the Indian dressing room, head coach Gautam Gambhir also had a stoic expression on his face.
According to available statistics, Jaiswal’s four dropped catches in this Test, are the joint most by an Indian player in a Test.
By reaching his century and, more significantly, keeping India wicketless, Duckett, who was at 98 at the time, added salt to India's wounds.
"Just this cruel fate that we're seeing happen here. Jaiswal, you just mentioned, not in gully, he's deep square leg, but he's dropped a catch, a difficult one. And against Mohammed Siraj. We're talking about him getting a bit hot under the collar. Should have taken this. Should have taken this catch," said Sanjay Manjrekar on air.
"It's nerves more than anything else. When you drop catches and Mohammed Siraj, you've got to feel for him, at this stage of his career as well, the kind of form that is carrying for the last so many test matches. Wickets a lot coming his way. There's one very important one here. Ben Duckett, well said. Ben Duckett would have been out, India would have been right back in the game. Wasn't to be," Manjrekar added.
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