Yashasvi Jaiswal’s Three Dropped Catches Leave Rohit Sharma Furious In Boxing Day Test | Watch

In the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India dominated the second session on Day 4, largely due to a great show from Jasprit Bumrah. The vice-captain of the Indian team put up a one-man show as he picked up three wickets in a row.

The session, however, was marred by multiple dropped catches, particularly by Yashasvi Jaiswal, who left the Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, visibly frustrated.

Young opening batsman Jaiswal was in the spot for all the wrong things after he dropped three crunch catches during Australia’s second innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The first was on the penultimate ball of the third over with Jaiswal at leg gully failing to catch a mishit delivery off Usman Khawaja against Bumrah.

The ball burst through his hands, and though Jaiswal was standing quite close, leaving him with little reaction time, the dropped catch was a missed opportunity to put Australia under immense pressure early on.

The stinger was the second more significant drop was during the 40th over of the innings. Marnus Labuschagne, still in the 40s, faced a delivery from Akash Deep that should have been an easy catch. Jaiswal, who stood at gully, had the ball come straight to him, but inexplicably dropped it. This was a key moment where it would have been a huge blow to Australia’s middle order, which was already dented by Bumrah’s very crucial spell.

As the cameras moved to Rohit Sharma’s reaction, his palpable frustration became visible. He was seen throwing his hand in frustration as commentators spoke about the frustration at losing an opportunity. Former cricketer Mark Nicholas commented immediately about Rohit’s reaction, “You do not have to show frustration at a time when a player like Jaiswal has to be motivated.”. While Jaiswal was on his face, the captain’s body language was viewed as not helpful for team morale.

Third Drop Brings Further Frustration

The third dropped catch came in the 49th over when Jaiswal was positioned at silly point. A delivery from Ravindra Jadeja popped up off Pat Cummins’ defensive shot, heading straight into Jaiswal’s hands. Again, the young player could not hold on to the ball, much to the annoyance of captain Rohit Sharma, who let out a scream in frustration.

But, however, Jaiswal’s mistakes notwithstanding, Bumrah’s spell in the second session gave India hope. He tore into Australia’s middle order and reduced the visitors to 135-6 at the tea break with a 240-run lead. Bumrah was the destroyer, and the figure of 4-30 in 14 overs saw India claw back into the game. The right-arm pacer has achieved a career milestone of taking his 200th wicket in Test cricket as well as 29 wickets in the series that makes it the second-best tally by an Indian bowler in a single tour of Australia.

India Fights Back

Although India had done a good job, it was still Australia who were ahead, and they were leading with 105 runs from the first innings. The Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch was slowly starting to exhibit variable bounces, which increased the pressure on the Indian team. Although Jaiswal committed mistakes, the hopes rested on Bumrah and the last possible exploitation that could be made on the remaining two middle-order men for Australia.

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