Team India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal is hampering Team India’s chances of victory with his poor fielding. Yashasvi Jaiswal is facing criticism for missing not two but four catches in the ongoing Leeds Test against England. After dropping three catches in the first innings, this Team India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal failed to take a crucial catch in the second innings. Duckett was batting at 97 runs when he missed the catch.
When India was struggling for wickets, Yashasvi Jaiswal was dropping catches. Duckett played a pull shot in the bowling of Siraj. The timing was not right, and the ball rose high. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was fielding at mid-wicket, ran and dived but could not catch it. With this, the England opener, who was still at 97, moved closer to a century. Duckett went on to score a century, and India lost the match to England.
England won the Headingley game by five wickets with 84 balls left to play. While the hosts gave solid chase to a good total put up by India, the game will have been one to forget for Yashasvi Jaiswal, who dropped four catches in the innings. This makes him the Indian cricketer to drop most catches in a Test innings — a record he will be keen to forget. The first was Ajinkya Rahane, who dropped three catches against Bangladesh in the 2019 Test.
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dropped catches at crucial junctures eliminates his 101 as India loses the first test
Despite dominant batting in the first Test match vs England, India crumbled to a five-wicket defeat on Wednesday. The first innings saw Yashasvi Jaiswal (101), skipper Shubman Gill (147) and Rishabh Pant (134) get tons. Then in the second innings, KL Rahul (137) got a century, and Pant once again responded with another ton, smacking 118 runs.
But it wasn’t enough as England chased down the target of 371 runs with ease, and won the match on Day 5, with 84 balls to spare. Dropped catches were a constant in the first Test match as Indian fielders failed to capitalise on some easy chances. Yashasvi Jaiswal has been pushed into the scanner due to his poor fielding, and dropped four catches in the match in massive moments.
In the first innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal was guilty of handing lifelines to Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and Harry Brook. Then in the second innings, he dropped Duckett once again, when he was on 97. Posting a video on X, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif, considered to be one of the best fielders in cricket history, weighed in on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dropped catches, and defended the young opener with his analysis.
Explaining the reason behind it, former cricketer Mohammad Kaif analysed that the strap that Yashasvi Jaiswal had put in his hand may have distracted him. He pointed out that once the strap is put on, the fingers get stuck and lose their freedom of movement. The 44-year-old noted that the strap turns into a sponge, and it often becomes difficult to hold the ball as there’s no natural connection.
“Why is Yashasvi Jaiswal dropping catches? We are practicing with Duke’s ball, and when we get hurt, we put a strap. In such a situation, the fingers are stuck and there is no free movement. You can’t hold onto the catch because the strap becomes a sponge. The ball bounces off it, so that’s the drawback. The natural connection with the ball shouldn’t be lost,” he said.
However Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dropped catches in the first innings also proved to be costly, as Pope got a ton, smacking 106 runs off 137 balls. Meanwhile, Brook (99) narrowly missed out on a century and Duckett (62) got a half-century. In the second innings, Duckett (149) went on to get a match-winning hundred. Citing this differences former English opener and commentator Sir Goeffrey Boycott slammed Yashasvi Jaiswal for his fielding which cost India the match.
Sir Goeffrey Boycott slammed Yashasvi Jaiswal for fielding failures in 1st Test
Former England opener Sir Geoffrey Boycott launched a scathing attack on Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal for his fielding lapses in the first Test at Headingley in Leeds. Boycott said that Yashasvi Jaiswal cost the tourists more runs than he scored in the Test.
The left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal made 101 in the first innings. However, he missed catches off Harry Brook and Ollie Pope in England’s opening innings as the pair went on to contribute heavily to their side’s total. However, the most significant drop came off Ben Duckett’s bat in the fourth innings when he was on 97. Duckett eventually made a match-winning 149 as the hosts gunned down 371 to go 1-0 up in the series. In his column for The Telegraph, the 84-year-old wrote that dropping three catches in a game is unforgivable. He wrote:
“The worst culprit was the young superstar batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal who shelled three catches. Everyone drops a catch but three in a match is too expensive. He made 105 runs in two innings but he cost India more than the runs he scored.”
Having lost the Leeds Test from a strong position, Team India will need to lift themselves quickly especially in the fielding department. The second Test of the five-match series begins at Edgbaston in Birmingham from July 2.
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