Usman Khawaja Viral Catch: Aussie Fielder's Sensational Diving Catch Dismisses Shreyas Iyer In Indore Test
Shreyas Iyer was looking dangerous but Usman Khawaja's catch on the bowling of Mitchell Starc cut short his stay in the middle.
It wasn't the best day on the cricket field for Team India. Even though Australia started Day 2 of the ongoing third Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore at 156/4 and were bowled out for 193 eventually, for large passages of play and the way it ended, it was the Kangaroos who were the happier team.
For starters, Ravichandran Ashwin and Umesh Yadav picked up three wickets apiece which meant India had conceded an 88-run lead after getting dismissed for 109 in the first innings on Day 1. While the second batting innings of the hosts was going to the make or break point of this Test match, in the end the home team has been bowled out for 163, which meant a 76-run winning target to Australia.
Even though it was the Aussie off-spinner Nathan Lyon who was their wrecker-in-chief, finishing the innings with a 8-wicket haul conceding 64 runs, in one of the major turning points of the game Usman Khawaja took a stunning catch to get rid of Shreyas Iyer. This wicket was crucial for the touring side as Shreyas had started to take on the opposition spinners and the strategy seemed to be reaping rewards with the right-handed batter scoring a couple of boundaries in an over from Lyon and following it up with a six and a four in the subsequent over from Matthew Kuhnemann.
Not much later, Steve Smith handed over the ball to their left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc and it seemed that the ploy would be to expose Iyer's vulnerability against the short ball. However, Starc got him out off a full-length delivery in his very first over of the spell. The batter flicked a straight ball on the stumps but failed to keep the shot on ground as Khawaja dived to his left to take a great catch.
The video of the effort from Australia's opener has surfaced on social media.
Take a look:
— IPLT20 Fan (@FanIplt20) March 2, 2023
While Iyer's 26 off 27 was the second-best score in India's second innings, the best innings by an Indian batter was played by Cheteshwar Pujara who scored 59 off 142 deliveries and ensured that the hosts did get to the total that they got in the end. With the pitch offering immense assistance to the spinners, India would still fancy their chances but it is advantage to Australia at the end of the second day's play.
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