The Indian cricket team kickstarted the much-awaited Test series against England on Wednesday at Edgbaston. The hosts won the toss and opted to bat first. On the other hand, Kohli deployed two of his trusted spearheads – Ishant and Umesh – from both the ends to begin the battle.
In the sixth over, the visitors had a great opportunity to get an early breakthrough and put some pressure on the English openers. However, a dropped catch from the Indian vice-captain, Ajinkya Rahane shattered all the hopes.
The length delivery from Ishant Sharma seamed across Jennings and took the outside edge of his blade. But Rahane, who divided ahead of Kohli in front of the third slip, dropped the opportunity.
Here’s the video:
After this incident, the tally of losing a catch by the Indian slip cordon has reached to 47 since December 2013. They have been successful on 38 occasions but have disappointed a seamer for 47 times which has ultimately put them at the receiving end.
Surprisingly, in today’s face-off, the first-ever blunder was committed by Rahane who is one of the best slip catchers in the present scenario.
He has the best average in terms of catches taken per innings and has grabbed 60 catches in 85 innings so far in his career at an average of 0.705 followed closely by the skipper Kohli who has taken 63 catches in 125 innings, averaging 0.504 per innings. Murli Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara average 0.444 and 0.360 respectively.
This missed opportunity not only left Ishant speechless but also the skipper perplexed who could have easily caught the ball.
However, Ashwin, who is the only skipper in the playing XI, drew the first blood and got rid of Alastair Cook in the 9th over.