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Several dropped catches have been dropped in the ongoing first Test of the series between India and England. As many as six centuries have been scored and a few batters have sloppy catching to thank for that. India's young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal has been in the firing line as he has dropped a few catches in the slip cordon, letting the advantage slip away. While Jasprit Bumrah considers it as part and parcel of the game, former England captain Alastair Cook explained why so many catches have been dropped at Headingley, Leeds.
"So we've heard from a number of interviews at the end of the play, that this is a hard-catching ground. Ollie Pope mentioned it and five catches have gone down in the slip cordon.
"We're standing here, you can see the marks actually where the players make, so they're standing in the right place exactly where they are. And I think it's probably two possible reasons why," Cook said on BBC Sport.
"The first I'm not so sure about is actually the slope, where the players aren't used to the slope. The square behind just there is quite a long way above where we are, so whether that makes an impact on where you're catching it," he added.
Not just the slope, Cook feels that the newly made stands have a real dark black line which make it hard for the dark red Dukes ball. When they do, it's too late for them to act appropriately and it leads to dropped chances.
"I think the main reason for this ground in particular, if you look at the stands, there's a black line, a real dark black line, and if the ball goes into that, I think players miss it a little bit, so you miss picking up just that crucial bit and you panic. When you want to catch, you want firm, hard hands, but also a nice relaxed body. So if you're missing a little bit and you think 'where's the ball gone?' you panic and you get electric hands," Cook further explained after Day 4's play.
"You see a couple of the chances today have gone through by hitting the hands a little bit harder and earlier than they expected. It's the same actually at the other end here—there's another line in this new beautiful stand, just to see underneath the first layer. It hits there, players are really, really struggling with it. So we've seen chances go down, they've had a big impact on the game," the former England opener concluded.
Catches will win the match on Day 5
However, on Day 5, captain Shubman Gill will expect better from his slip fielders as India defend a target of 371. England scored 21 runs for no loss towards the end of Day 4's play. They need 350 more runs to win the Test. Considering the pace at which England batters bat, catches will be crucial for India to start the series with a win.
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