Sai Sudharsan has taken one of the most extraordinary catches you’ll ever see. Fielding at forward short leg, a position where having quick reflexes is essential, Sudharsan claimed an extraordinary catch. Funnily, it wasn’t that he dived towards the ball or plucked it right out of the air, but the ball somehow got stuck in his hands and upper torso.
Sai Sudharsan’s stunning reflex catch
Frankly, words can’t really do justice to what happened. Ravindra Jadeja, who was bowling his first over, tried to use the rough created against West Indies’ opener John Campbell. He pitched the ball outside to induce an edge that then carried to Sudharsan.
But Campbell had other ideas. He didn’t wish to let Jadeja settle. The Windies opener had paddle-swept the Indian left-arm spinner for a four on the first ball of his spell and then pulled out a slog sweep. Campbell timed it well, but it hit Sudharsan in the chest and stuck as the fielder tried to defend himself against the shot.
Campbell stood there in shock. He couldn’t understand how Sudharsan caught the ball. The Indian team and the crowd were in disbelief. Sudharsan didn’t even celebrate, and we understood why.
Gets injured in the process
It turned out that while taking the catch, Sudharsan had sustained damage to one of the fingers on his right hand. While his teammates tried to celebrate, he winced in pain. Soon, the Indian physio came out to tend to his injury, and Sudharsan walked off the field.
Later, we saw he was getting his finger iced. The injury didn’t look so bad that Sudharsan will be out of action for a while, but it looks unlikely that he’ll take the field in the remainder of the India vs West Indies 2nd Test.
