CHENNAI:NOT often will you come across highlight packages of Test matches where one fielder reels away seven times in celebration after completing a catch. Even as India were one wicket away from what would eventually culminate in a 203-run obliteration of England in Nottingham, KL Rahul had on last Wednesday become the seventh man to lay claim to such a bragging right. From being shunted around in various close-in positions in front or to the side of batsmen, Rahul’s soft-handed, calm approach to catching behind them had temporarily laid to rest one particular ghost that had been haunting India for a while: shoddy fielding behind the stumps.
India’s catching solidity in the slip cordon has constantly come under scrutiny over the last four years, especially on foreign shores. That isn’t surprising, considering that before their England sojourn, they’d been shelling 2.48 catches per Test in that region in the aforementioned period. Though India did live up to that statistic at Trent Bridge (Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara dropped one each), Rahul’s seven-catch feat (he’s the first to do so on English soil) and a lessham- handed overall outing from the cordon as compared to their first two Tests threw up one big plus point they can carry on to Southampton. “Slip-catching and pace-bowling are two halves of a partnership that can really define a team. The former also played a big role in making the famed West Indies pace attack what it went on to be,” explained former India speedster L Balaji.
“India definitely improved in the third Test. These are not easy conditions to field in the slips, considering that the Duke ball wobbles a lot more, and there’s a lot of late lateral movement in England. “In that context, Rahul was really good. He showed excellent anticipation and adjustment. That can perhaps be boiled down to the fact that he also comes from a wicket-keeping background.” It wasn’t just the men to the left (or right, if the batsman was a southpaw) behind the stumps were at their sharpest best. The one right behind them — Rishabh Pant — too had quite the outing with the gloves in his debut match. Pant’s batting exploits with India A a month ago may have earned him his cap, but it had also brushed under the rug his forgettable first-class outings with gloves during that time.
In two matches, Pant had seen 46 byes go past him, apart from some of the 40 leg byes that had swelled opposition totals. With this in context, the 20-year-old’s seven pouched efforts (joint-most taken by a keeper on debut) stand as quite an achievement under pressure. “He’s always shown signs of being a solid keeper, and the way he was going about his business during the Test, it didn’t look like he was making his debut,” explained Balaji. “In India with the SG ball, a keeper can premeditate his standing position as per the ball’s condition. But in England, you constantly need to keep moving forward or backward, since the ball tends to climb off the pitch every now and then. Also, when your bowlers are on fire, keeping becomes an even more difficult job. But Pant handled all those adjustments splendidly.”
rahul.ravi@newindianexpress.com