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.

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Ajinkya Rahane

2nd Test - Australia v India: Day 2

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.

Dinesh Karthik

England v India: Specsavers 1st Test - Day Three

After reducing England to 285/9 on day one, Mohammed Shami was given the responsibility to bowl the final over of the day and the Bengal pacer almost had the hosts dismissed on the first day itself but wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik had other ideas as he put down a difficult chance behind the wickets.

Shami pitched the ball on off stump, swung it away from the southpaw Sam Curran, who edged the ball towards the slip cordon. As the ball was traveling straight to Shikhar Dhawan at first slip, Karthik dived to his left in a bid to take the catch and managed to get his hands on the ball before putting it down.

That didn't cost India much as England scored just two more runs before getting all-out for 287.

Shikhar Dhawan

England & India Net Sessions

This is easily the costliest drop of the match. When the Indian bowlers were going all guns blazing, Sam Curran and Adil Rashid threatened to take the game away from India by building on a small partnership. They put on 42 runs for the eighth wicket but it should have been just 20 as Sam Curran was dropped on 13 by Shikhar Dhawan off the bowling of Mohammed Shami.

Shami managed to get the bottom edge of the bat and the ball went straight to Dhawan. It was a bit low but the southpaw got his fingers on the ball and let the ball go through him. To be fair to Dhawan, it was a tough chance as the ball took the bottom edge and the fielder had less time to react.

To make things worse for India, Curran got a boundary off that ball and went on to score 63 crucial runs for his team, exactly 50 more than what he should have scored had Dhawan caught the catch.

Shikhar Dhawan

England v India: Specsavers 1st Test - Day One

Soon after dropping Sam Curran at first slip, Dhawan was the culprit again as he dropped Adil Rashid at the same position. Unlike the previous one, this catch was a regulation one for a slip fielder but the opener juggled it.

Umesh Yadav bowled a full ball and Rashid went for a booming drive just to get the outside edge of his bat. As the ball was going to Dhawan at a good height, Dinesh Karthik put in a dive to his right and that may have put Dhawan off.

Dhawan got his hands on the ball in front of his chest before the red cherry popped out, hit his shoulder and then as he was falling down, he tried to catch it again but failed. Rashid survived when he was on 14 but was castled by Umesh after adding two runs to his total.