Kotla remembers Dravid after India's 'slip' ups

There was no sign of Rahul Dravid in the vicinity of Kotla, nor was one his wards lighting up third day’s play, yet it was the thing on everyone’s mind. The sight of ‘Miss U Dravid” placard was followed by almost a collective sigh of ‘yes’.

New Delhi: The clock had just trickled past 1 but neither the Delhi winter nor the Feroz Shah Kotla crowd was in a mood to shrug off the morning jitters. Sun had made a guest appearance so short that it almost went unnoticed, like the odd scoring shot from Sri Lanka’s overnight batsmen Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews – they were finding it hard to maintain even a 2 runs per over run rate.  Just then, the two giant screens emerged as the saviour with a little help from the camera person – “Miss U Wall, Rahul Dravid,” read a placard on both the screens and Kotla was back to being its noisy best.

There was no sign of Rahul Dravid in the vicinity of Kotla, nor was one of his wards lighting up third day’s play, yet it was the thing on everyone’s mind. The sight of ‘Miss U Dravid” placard was followed by almost a collective sigh of ‘yes’. After all Rohit Sharma, standing at second slip, had just dropped Mathews when he was on 98 on the very first delivery of the second new ball. This after Kohli had already let Mathews go on the previous day very early into his innings and Dhawan had done the same favour, standing at the exact same position to Dilruwan Perera – India were indeed missing Rahul Dravid, its most reliable slip fielder.

 

After Dravid’s retirement in 2012, India has played musical chairs with its slip fielders far too often for comfort. From Kohli to Ashwin, then to Rahane, Kohli again, Dhawan, back to Rahane, now Pujara and Rohit – all of them graced the slip cordon but none has made it their own.

Not the first time slip catching had let India down. They paid a heavy price for dropping crucial catches in England, 2011 and if not addressed, this can again become a chink in the armour when they travel to South Africa in January next year.

Slip catching, like batting has its very own demands. It requires undivided attention and patience from the fielder towards the ball and from the team towards its fielder, India have failed to show both.

In the over before Rohit spilled Mathews, Pujara was occupying the second slip’s position for a good half an hour. For some reason, he was replaced as Ishant was handed over the new ball. The trend was pretty much the same on Day 2. Kohli, Dhawan took turns in standing at second slip but the result didn’t change. Both of them were guilty of going with hard hands. Rohit, on the other hand was far too late to react to a ball that was travelling towards his right.

Smiling through all this, Angelo Mathews had reached his eighth Test hundred and more importantly stitched a 181-run fourth wicket stand with captain Chandimal to save the follow on.

Indian seamers Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma toiled hard on a lifeless track without much help from the slip fielders. It was only later in the evening when wicket-keeper Saha came to their rescue by taking two brilliant diving catches that they found solace.

India’s fielding on Day 3 was ordinary overall but their slip catching is sure to give the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma sleepless nights, especially when they know they will heavily rely on them in about a month’s time in South Africa. An Amla or a du Plessis may not allow a collapse after drop catches like Sri Lanka and Johannesburg or Cape Town will certainly not come with “Miss u Dravid” placards.