The Indian cricket team got off to a losing start on the tour of Bangladesh, losing the first ODI by a meager margin of 1 wicket. India seemed to be on course to victory despite posting a below-par score of 186 runs on the board, but wicket-keeper KL Rahul dropped the all-important catch of Mehidy Hasan Miraz before Washington Sundar seemed to have refused to even approach a catching opportunity. Veteran India wicket-keeper batter, Dinesh Karthik, reacting to the fielding lapses by the duo, was left baffled.
In a chat on Cricbuzz as a pundit, Karthik admitted that he couldn’t understand why Sundar didn’t come in trying to catch the ball.
“Obviously KL Rahul’s drop towards the end and Sundar not coming, don’t know why he didn’t come in. I don’t know if it was because of the lights, which I wouldn’t know, but if he had seen the ball, he should have gone for it. That’s only a question he can answer. Overall fielding effort was 50-50. Not the best day, but it was not the worst day either. I guess in the end, with the pressure, we left some boundaries as well,” said Karthik.
The incident had left India skipper Rohit Sharma furious who even lost his cool on the field seeing Miraz’s catch go begging not once but twice in the final few overs.
KL Rahul, in the post-match press conference, admitted that India lost two catching opportunities at the end.
“That’s cricket, right? You have to expect the unexpected. As long as cricket has been played, these kinds of things keep happening. They fought very well till the end and a couple of dropped catches and that innings from Mehidy,” he said.
The Indian team would be looking to put things right as they meet Bangladesh again in the 2nd ODI on Wednesday.
