Team India is currently in the middle of the first Test of the five-match series against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Indian skipper Virat Kohli lost the toss and was asked to bowl first by the English captain Joe Root on a moist wicket with a cloud cover as well. England batsman Keaton Jennings has denied his attempts to shoo away a pigeon was the reason behind his dismissal. Jennings was batting really well on 42 when he was distracted by a pigeon walking on the adjacent pitch.
The gameplay was paused momentarily as Keaton and his fellow batsman Root tried to clear the stubborn bird from the middle of the field at Edgbaston. With the pigeon eventually taken care of, Jennings was bowled by Mohammed Shami from the very next delivery. It was an unfortunate way to get out with the ball dribbled onto the stumps after ricocheting off his body. However, Jennings laughed off the incident and any suggestions that the bird was responsible for his dismissal.
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Talking to the reporters after the end of Day 1’s play, Keaton said, “I obviously made an error, misjudged the ball, and it ended up in my stumps, and that’s the way it is. I don’t blame the bird at all. Thirty overs before, people were standing up behind the bowler’s arm, you could say that distracted me as well. You re-focus, go through your own method, your own process between each ball. I wouldn’t say it distracted me at all. It just happens to be the ball before I got out, and suddenly there’s a huge hoo-hah about the pigeon.”
However, it is often seen that wickets fall in Test cricket just a break in the game. The bird certainly broke the momentum and it may have helped India. Even, the commentators were talking about how the pigeon provided India a window to sneak into the game when the innings was going in England’s favor, as one can hear in the clip below.
He's not the first English batsman to be undone by a Pigeon! pic.twitter.com/etJXh6v3NM
— FOX SPORTS Australia (@FOXSportsAUS) August 2, 2018
The Indian team was on the front foot after day one of the ongoing first Test match in Birmingham’s Edgbaston Cricket Ground as England were reduced to 285 for nine after a good start.
