'Rohit Sharma giving himself gaali': Gavaskar says ‘drop catch on Axar Patel’s hat-trick ball will be remembered'
Rohit Sharma dropped a simple catch that denied Axar Patel a hat-trick in the India vs Bangladesh Champions Trophy match and then cursed himself repeatedly.
Rohit Sharma made all attempts possible to forget the drop catch. He pounded the ground with ferocious slaps, said sorry to the bowler (Axar Patel) with folded hands and cursed himself till at least the next two overs. So much so that the commentators jokingly asked if there were any penalties in the ICC code of conduct for self-cursing. A drop catch, no matter how undesirable it is, is nothing unusual in international cricket. Then why such an over-the-top reaction from the Indian captain? Because it was not an ordinary drop catch. It denied a hat-trick to Axar Patel.
It would have been Axar's first-ever hat-trick in any form of cricket (including domestic). Only four Indian bowlers - Chetan Sharma, Kapil Dev, Kuldeep Yadav (twice), and Mohammed Shami) have taken a hat-trick in ODIs. Only once did a bowler pick up a hat-trick in the history of the ICC Champions Trophy, Jerome Taylor of West Indies in 2006. That's how rare it is to claim three back-to-back wickets.
Axar almost had it. He had done his job by deceiving Bangladesh batter Jaker Ali in the air. He was drawn in forward and just when he thought he had it covered, the ball turned and took the outside edge. Anticipating something similar, Rohit put two slips in place. The palling was perfect. The execution from Axar was too but the captain faltered. He tried to pounce on the ball rather than let it land in his hands. The result was obvious. The ball went to the ground, and so did Rohit.
Legendary India cricketer Suni Gavaskar, who was in the commentary box when the incident took place, said a dropped catch on the hat-trick will be remembered for a long time. "Drop catches can happen but a drop catch on a hat-trick ball will be remembered for a long time," he said.
Rohit was hurting. He was furious with himself. He shook his head so many times that even those watching started to feel a bit dizzy. He continued to scream at himself. 'He's giving gaalis (expletives) to himself. He's still unhappy," Gavaskar said.
Jaker, Hridoy make India pay
What would hurt Rohit and India further that Bangladesh would have been been 35/6 had he taken the catch. But instead, Jaker Ali and Towhid Hridoy put on a mammoth partnership of 154 runs to not only save Bangladesh from humiliation but also put a competitive total on the board.
India's fielding nosedived as the match progressed. The day started with a few sharp catches from Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli but after Rohit's drop catch, the graph went down. Hardik Pandya dropped another regulation catch off Kuldeep Yadav's bowling to give Hridoy a life. An over later, Ravindra Jadeja deceived Jaker Ali to strangle him down the leg side, but KL Rahul failed to gather the ball cleanly, and a stumping opportunity was missed.
The ground fielding too was not up to the mark. There were boundaries given towards the end that allowed Bangladesh to get to 228 in 49.4 overs.
