Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik reckoned that Mohammed Siraj probably wasn’t expecting a catch to come to him when he dropped Harry Brook. The incident occured on Day 4 of IND vs ENG 5th Test when the Indian pacer stepped on the boundary rope after taking a catch, giving the England batter a golden lifeline. Brook, who was dropped on 19, went on to score a century, setting up the perfect stage for England to chase down a record 374-run target at the Kennington Oval.
Karthik explains why Siraj dropped a crucial catch
Speaking on Cricbuzz, Karthik pointed out that Siraj had just re-entered the field at the start of the over in which he dropped Brook. The pacer’s ex-RCB teammate opined that the former probably wasn’t expecting a catch to come to him and might have been “just chilling”.
“A very seminal moment in this game came when Siraj dropped that catch. He had just walked into the ground before the start of that over, the masseuse was standing behind him, Arshdeep was just in his corner, maybe he was just chilling, was not expecting anything of that sort to come to him. After that you can almost see that Indian team deflated a little,” Karthik explained.
India had a chance to send the England star packing right before lunch. Brook hooked a short delivery from Prasidh Krishna down to fine leg, Mohammed Siraj, stationed there, took the catch but tripped over losing his balance. The Indian fast bowler had his face in his hands. Krishna, who was halfway into his celebration was in shock.
“When you are running behind for a catch, the most important aspect is that you need to quickly get under the ball, and then have a wide base to keep your head still. What Siraj was doing is that he had a bit of a shorter step, so he was moving away as he took the catch, which tells you he did not judge the ball well enough,” Karthik explained.
