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India on Saturday overwhelmed Australia by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test of the four-match series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. Ravichandran Ashwin claimed a five-wicket haul, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami took two apiece as India bundled out Australia for 91 runs in the guests’ second innings. Earlier, Rohit Sharma‘s 120 and Axar Patel‘s 84 steered the hosts to 400 all out, helping the side take a first-innings lead of 223 runs. India had bundled out Australia for 177 after visiting skipper Pat Cummins opted to bat first in the game.
Australia were never really in the game as India dominated throughout. Some poor fielding performance added to the issues of the guests. Scott Boland dropping Mohammed Shami’s catch at long-on could be one of the telling examples.
On the fourth ball of the 122nd over, Nathan Lyon bowled a delivery around good length area to Shami, who decided to go for a big one. Given the connection was not perfect, the ball went high into the air with Boland getting underneath it at long-on.
To everyone’s surprise, Boland dropped what was a regulation catch.
Defending him during the English commentary, former Australia batter Matthew Hayden pointed out that the shade of the stand on the side of the ground played a key role in making the catch difficult for Boland.
“You have got that shaded area. Ball goes high through that and drops into that shaded area. The contrast (puts) some difficulty in the eyelines,” said Hayden.
Reacting to it, former India cricketer and ex-coach Ravi Shastri said: “Is that an excuse Haydos? For a catch like that at this level.”
“No way,” said Hayden in reply.
The dropped catch proved costly for Australia as Shami, who was then batting on 6, went on to score 37 runs off 47 balls, playing a crucial role in helping India post a big total in their only innings in the match.
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