Team India picked up a couple of quick wickets but only after witnessing a torrid time in the first hour on Day 1 of the 4th Test against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Travis Head and Usman Khawaja dictated proceedings as Australia scored at a healthy run rate taking the toll of an indiscipline Indian bowling line-up. They were way off target, and what hurt India further was KS Bharat dropping a sitter of Head when he was just on 7.
Off the fifth ball of the sixth over, Umesh Yadav pitched one on the fifth stump line. Head nicked the ball, and it carried straight to Bharat, who made an absolute mess of it. A chance that should have taken 99 out of 100 times, Bharat misread it entirely and couldn’t lap it up. The gloves were nowhere near the ball and it popped out.
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The Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma was clearly not pleased and neither were Bharat’s teammates. The missed opportunity took the commentators by surprise, as each one of them expressed their shock at the drop on air.
Here is the video of the drop catch by KS Bharat:
KS bharat drop here. You can see he takes a step to the legside. (Second photo) So already he is unbalanced, and then he doesn't quiet get to the ball, he reaches out (last photo) very tough to take a opposite step then come back in. Technical error #INDvsAUSTest #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/7pwSdIPUKu
— lucas (@LucasR32sky) March 9, 2023
As per the quotes in Hindustan Tome, here is how Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Dinesh Karthik, and Matthew Hayden reacted.
Gavaskar: It’s as easy as they come. Of course in Test cricket no catch is easy. But have a look at this. Just fishing for the ball outside off stump. IN and it goes down.
Hayden: He just got his hands in the wrong position. He got done and then he didn’t make the adjustment. It’s almost like a stubbornness in his thinking knowing that the ball should always be here. But it wasn’t.
Shastri: That drop catch. A real sitter put down. A straightforward chance.
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Karthik: You get the feeling that he is slightly nervous. Hands were lower than where the ball was. The one thing that you have to say is that the ball is wobbling. Doing more than what he thinks. The hands were slightly lower than where they should have been. Harder as well; tells me he is nervous at this point of time.
Thankfully for Bharat and India, the drop did not cost them dearly as R Ashwin dismissed the southpaw for 32. Twitter was not pleased with the early displays by the wicketkeeper in the must-win encounter. Here are some of the reactions on the social media platform:
KS Bharat was given a vote of confidence by Rohit Sharma yesterday. He's not backed it up so far today.#INDvAUS
— Andrew McGlashan (@andymcg_cricket) March 9, 2023
All the talk about "KS Bharat should play over Ishan Kishan because of his wicketkeeping"
And then KS Bharat concedes byes and drops a sitter 😭
You can't give chances to batters on such a good track..Bharat yaar 💔
— Anuj Nitin Prabhu 🏏 (@APTalksCricket) March 9, 2023
He drops a dolly soon after. #INDvAUS #INDvsAUS https://t.co/QuAXOsjZQq
— Nikesh Rughani (@NikeshRughani) March 9, 2023
We all know he is better than KS and even other wks in every way#indiavsaus https://t.co/AKUHoV3lZP
— Er.Vipan Singh (@vippen9858) March 9, 2023
Rishabh Pant watching KS Bharat dropped catch 🥹#INDvsAUSTest #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/sww9WvyQol
— Ashutosh Srivastava 🇮🇳 (@sri_ashutosh08) March 9, 2023
#INDvsAUS #BorderGavaskarTrophy #KSBharat #UmeshYadav Getting into #TeamIndia is not an easy joke and K S Bharat messed up a golden chance. Looks like it is all over for him
— bhaskaran(BS) (@BHASKARANSHIVAR) March 9, 2023
KS Bharat dropping catches and giving byes, Ishan Kishan not getting picked#RohitSharma𓃵 feeling extremely frustrated
Meanwhile #Pant …#PMNarendraModi #INDvsAUSTest #Modi #AhmedabadTest pic.twitter.com/3EbtFPMlQz
— Cricket Videos Analysis (@HarshaObviously) March 9, 2023
Reply feel for KS Bharat. He is so good on slow turners. He struggled at Kotla as well. It’s not easy to keep to this Indian pace attack for new wicketkeepers! DK has been pointing the deficiency in his footwork. #INDvsAUSTest
— Arani Basu (@AraniBasuTOI) March 9, 2023
KS Bharat’s career pic.twitter.com/0gfspsdUIU
— abhishek (@jollyengineerr) March 9, 2023
Even part time wk KL Rahul would have caught that. You better leave my beautiful team KS Bharat
— B` (@Bishh04) March 9, 2023
KS Bharat needs to score 8+ runs in the first innings to at least break even. #INDvAUS
— vatsal (@VatsalKMaru) March 9, 2023
