Yashasvi Jaiswal the culprit again, drops Ben Duckett on 97; fourth of the match; avoids coming near Mohammed Siraj

When things don't happen, they just don’t. For 32 overs, India toiled, their search for wickets continuing on Day 5 of the first Test against England at Headingley. Absolutely nothing was happening, neither in the air nor off the wicket. England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were going great guns. Nothing seemed to be troubling them until Mohammed Siraj, who bowled his heart out, sent down the fourth ball of the 39th over. A bouncer which Duckett miscued. Yashasvi Jaiswal's miss did not impress Mohammed Siraj(Screengrab)

Also Read: India vs England 1st Test Day 5 Live

Duckett was rushed on by the delivery, top-edging the ball to deep square leg. Yashasvi Jaiswal could have given India their much-needed breakthrough, but alas, the chance turned into despair, with Jaiswal dropping another one, his fourth of the match. Duckett, who was on 97 at that stage, rubbed salt into India’s wounds, completing his century and, more importantly, keeping India wicketless.

Watch the drop below:

"Just this cruel fate that we're seeing happen here. Jaiswal, you just mentioned, not in gully, he's deep square leg, but he's dropped a catch, a difficult one. And against Mohamed Siraj. We're talking about him getting a bit hot under the collar. Should have taken this. Should have taken this catch," said Sanjay Manjrekar on air.

"It's nerves more than anything else. When you drop catches and Mohammed Siraj, you've got to feel for him, at this stage of his career as well, the kind of form that is carrying for the last so many test matches. Wickets a lot coming his way. There's one very important one here. Ben Duckett, well said. Ben Duckett would have been out, India would have been right back in the game. Wasn't to be."

A match to forget for Jaiswal, the fielder

This was Jaiswal's fourth dropped catch of the match, having grassed three in the first innings. The look on his face said it all. Jaiswal was ridden by guilt, and after a small bit of consolation from Prasidh Krishna, went back to his position quietly. Siraj, however, was anything but calm, absolutely livid. Jaiswal, aware of the consequences, maintained his distance from the Indian pacer. The drop proved costly for India as Duckett went on to score 149 and put England right on track to chase down 371.

Jaiswal was guilty of handing lifelines to Ollie Pope, Duckett and Harry Brook when they were on 15, 60 and 83 respectively. And now Duckett again to add to his fielding woes. It's not as if Jaiswal is a bad fielder. In fact, he has taken 20 catches in his Test career, some of them really sharp ones in close-in positions. However, since the tour of Australia, everything's gone haywire for the 23-year-old. Jaiswal's reputation as an opener may be on the rise, but with every drop catch, his fielding prowess is declining.

Ahead of the start of play on Day 3, Jaiswal was put through isolated catching practice, but that apparently has had no impact whatsoever. Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin came to Jaiswal's rescue before play began on Tuesday, but even he's got to believe that the youngster could have done better.

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