Dropping Catches Becomes A Boon For Team India

Yesterday, in the second T20 international at Mohali, it is believed that the Indian fieldsmen dropped as many as 5 catches which eventually saw the Sri Lankan batsmen piling up a mammoth 206 runs on the board. However, as the saying goes "All is well that ends well", India managed to not only snatch a win in the second T20 international at Mohali but also prove a lot by recording the highest run chase in T20 internationals surpassing the 208 run chase by South Africa against the West Indies in the inaugural edition of the T20 world cup where Chris Gayle scored the maiden T20 hundred as a matter of fact.

Just imagine had India taken all the chances by not dropping any catches, then the Sri Lankan total would have been somewhere in the range of 150 at the most, chasing which would have been just another moderate chase whatsoever. This doesn't mean that dropping catches are welcome. However, the other side of the coin also says that even the Sri Lankan batsmen were no less when it came to giving lives to the Indian batsmen and that too, dropping the catch of which would prove and did prove too costly for the Sri Lankans. In addition to dropping catches, there were a couple of miss run-out chances as well.

It is believed that Sanath Jayasuriya missed out on a run out chance of Virender Sehwag when he failed to break the stumps at mid-on when Sehwag was just on 14 then. Then comes the the drop catch by Chamara Kapugedra at long-on when Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on just 1 then. Finally, the drop catch off Tilekeratne Dilshan at the slips when Yuvraj was on 40 made a complete mess of the Sri Lankan fielding. It is quite evident from the scoreboard regarding the damage done by Virender Sehwag, Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh that would have made the Sri Lankan batsmen kick themselves.

So, it is quite evident that even the Sri Lankan bowlers and fielders had a great role to play in India's highest run chase in T20 internationals at Mohali. Moreover, in addition to the drop catches, the Sri Lankan batsmen were found going in for unnecessary lofted shots that saw the end of Jayawardane, Jayasinghe and Sangakkara which would have otherwise seen Sri Lanka's total boost even more. Further, the Sri Lankan bowlers were never found striking the right line, length and adding to that were no variation of pace by any of the Sri Lankan bowlers. The Sri Lankan spin department consisted of Dilshan and Jayasuriya, luckily none of whom were given the ball.