Understated vice-captain shows agility, anticipation, and greater awareness to provide a rare moment of luminescence for India’s abysmally sub-par catching — a stunning running catch and smart relay effort — to pull the semi-final in his team’s favour
Axar Patel takes a running catch to dismiss England skipper Harry Brook at Wankhede on Thursday. Pic/Getty Images
Harry Brook received a painful reminder of the consequences of not holding on to catches, while himself being at the receiving end of one of two slices of brilliance from Axar Patel in England’s T20 World Cup semi-final against India.
England’s cocky captain shelled a regulation offering in the third over at Wankhede when Sanju Samson lashed out at Jofra Archer. The ball travelled at a good pace and height to mid-on, where Brook put down a straightforward chance. Then, 15 out of 24-1, Samson England for 89 off just 42, the single biggest contributor to his team’s 253-7.
Every run Samson scored after that let-off was a dagger to English hearts, and to Brook. The skipper knew he owed his side plenty as England sought to mount the highest chase in T20I history but perished for just seven. Foxed by Jasprit Bumrah’s first ball, a slower delivery that did Brook in the air and elicited an uppish, one-handed drive over cover, Brook watched in consternation as Axar Patel turned around from cover and ran a good 25 yards at least, his eyes on the ball and his hands cupping the little sphere with surety even when he went sprawling after completing the deed.
It was a rare moment of luminescence for India’s catching, abysmally sub-par in the World Cup until that point. India dropped 13 catches in their first seven games, the most by any side; even as a one-off, it would have been alarming, but coming as it did after a Test series in England were 20 chances were spilled and the Asia Cup when Bangladesh’s Saif Hassan alone was dropped four times in one night, it pointed to a serious structural flaw that, somehow, hadn’t degenerated into utter collapse.
Axar struck two terrific blows for Indian catching on Thursday night. If the Brook dismissal spoke volumes of his agility, his anticipation and his composure, his role in Will Jacks’s downfall was even more influential, though the catch went down in Shivam Dube’s name. Jacks and centurion Jacob Bethell had put on 77 when Axar ran to his left from deep cover to hold on to a sliced drive off an Arshdeep Singh full toss. Axar completed the catch alright, but realised he was about to step over the rope, so he gently lobbed the ball for Shivam Dube to do the rest. Great catching and even greater awareness from the understated vice-captain with nothing to prove.
24 metres
The distance Axar Patel ran backward from the cover region to pull off a stunner to dismiss England skipper Harry Brook
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