Victory Must Be Caught With A Firm Grip

If there is one particular action by a player which plays a crucial role in cricket and that is taking catches, for when you drop a catch, you “drop the cup”. It happened in the 1999 World Cup when South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs, one of the best fielders in the world at that time, dropped Australian captain Steve Waugh who was on 56 on the bowling of Lance Klusener. Waugh remained unbeaten on 120 and took the Aussies into the semifinal and the final lifting the coveted trophy.

South African Gibbs was said to have ‘dropped the world cup’ after his drop during a World Cup 1999 Super Six clash against Australia at Headingley. Gibbs, who was considered one of the best fielders in the world at the time, dropped captain Steve Waugh off the bowling of Lance Klusener.

The drop was caused due to a premature celebration of the dismissal. Gibbs had scored a hundred in the first essay to set up a total of 271, but his drop helped Australia recover from 48/3 and win the game, securing a place in the semifinal.

Australia faced South Africa again in the semifinal, the famous tied contest in Birmingham where Allan Donald was run out off the last ball, sending Australia into the final. The Aussies went on to win their second world cup title in the final against Pakistan.

Fielding is indeed a very important aspect in all formats of cricket and it was taken to new heights by South Africa’s Jonty Rhodes and any extra run given because of poor fielding makes the target higher. Any catch is dropped, it is like giving one extra wicket to the batting side.

There are numerous incidents where dropped catches cost the side heavily while catches taken completely changed the complexion of the game.

Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman’s drop of Glenn Maxwell during the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 match against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is the latest in the list of game-changing dropped catches during World Cup matches.

Afghanistan had reduced Australia to 91/7 after setting a 292-run target for the five-time World Cup winners to chase. Maxwell was the last recognized batter in the Aussie line-up and was joined by captain Pat Cummins at the crease. Mujeeb shelled an easy chance at short fine leg in the 22nd over, bowled by Noor Ahmad, as Maxwell mistimed his attempted sweep shot.

The drop proved to be extremely costly as a hamstrung Maxwell scored an unbeaten 201, stitching an unbeaten 202-run partnership with Cummins, to take Australia over the line and qualify for the semifinal and go on to lift the Cup for the sixth time beating hosts and favourites India.

Maxwell’s double-ton was the first by an Australian batter in ODI cricket and the third in World Cup history. It was also the first double-hundred scored by a non-opener in the 50-over format.

Brendon McCullum’s New Zealand faced the West Indies in the quarterfinal of the 2015 World Cup on home turf in Wellington. Martin Guptill opened the batting with the captain after the home team won the toss and opted to bat first.

Three balls into the first over bowled by Jerome Taylor, Guptill flicked a ball on the stumps towards square leg, where Marlon Samuels fluffed the catch. Guptill was batting on 4 and he went on to make a brilliant 237 which is the highest run scored by any batsman in world cup history till date.

On the other side of the coin was the 1983 World Cup final at Lords that India’s captain Kapil Dev took one of the most remarkable catches running backwards of the most dangerous West Indian batsman Viv Richards and the rest is history as India became world champions.

It was indeed one of the great moments of Indian sporting history that a team which was never given any chance of lifting this coveted trophy considering the team that West Indies had at that time and were eyeing a hat-trick of world cup triumphs having won first two world cups in 1975 and 1979.

Almost a similar catch was taken by Australian Travis Head of Indian captain Rohit Sharma who was batting all guns blazing and that led to favourites India dropping the cup in the final at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. It is imperative that players have to be in peak form and be focussed in tournaments like the World Cup as a small mistake can prove to be very fatal.

In the T20 World Cup semi finals in 2016 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Ravindra Jadeja dropping Lendl Simmons saw the Windies march into the final. Simmons survived twice on No-ball.

In the 18th over of the match, he lifted one of his shots high into the night sky where Jadeja was patrolling the long-on fence. As he was close to the ropes he tried to parry the ball towards Kohli who was near him but as he tried to parry it his foot hit the ropes and it was deemed as a six. It would have been a different game if he would have taken that catch.

Another costly dropped catch happened at Eden Park, Auckland, in the 2015 World Cup semifinal between hosts New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand needed 14 runs from 7 balls. Only recognised batsman at the crease was Grant Elliot who mistimed a pull shot from Duminy and Behardien dropped the catch and South Africa missed the bus.

Another game changing incident occurred at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, at 2007 ICC World T20 Final between India and Pakistan. Mohammad Hafeez dropped Rohit Sharma, while Misbah scoop shot and Sreeshant taking the catch at fine leg would surely be remembered by cricket fans of the two nations as one of the iconic moments in their cricket rivalry.

But before that if Mohammad Hafeez had caught Rohit Sharma at long-on in the final over, then the final would have been different as Pakistan would need six fewer runs and they might have probably won the T20 world cup of 2007.

It was at the Centurion in South Africa on March one, 2003 in the clash between traditional rivals India and Pakistan. Chasing a target of 274, India lost Sehwag and Ganguly on 53 runs. After a few balls, Abdul Razzaq dropped Sachin Tendulkar off Wasim Akram's bowling. Sachin scored 98 from 75 balls and India won with 4.2 overs to spare.

Another was the catch dropped by Pakistan’s Hasan Ali in the second semifinal of the ICC T20 in Dubai,on November 11, 2021. In the 19th over of the match, Hasan Ali dropped Mathew Wade off Shaheeh Shah Afridi at deep midwicket and with it the hope of the Cup as the dropped catch proved to be costly for Pakistan as the Australian stumper hit three consecutive sixes to take his side into the final by registering a five-wicket win.

For India a moment to forget was their performance in a knockout game in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022 when they were playing England. last year. India posted a competitive 168/6 in 20 overs.

In reply, England's openers Alex Hales and Jos Butler tore into the Indian attack from the word go as they propelled their team to 140 for no loss in 13 overs.

After a boundary and a six off Indian pacer Mohammed Shami, Butler offered a simple chance in an attempt for another six. Suryakumar Yadav, sprinting from mid-off, spilled the catch and parried it away to the boundary, summing up India's evening. They eventually lost by 10 wickets in 16 overs and bowed out of the tournament.

Unlike the 2023 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, Team India were not so fortunate while dropping a catch against the same opponent in the 2019 edition in Manchester. India had the Kiwis one down in the fourth over. However, valuable knocks from skipper Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor steadied the ship for New Zealand.

Following the former's dismissal, India had an opportunity to tighten the screws, but Rohit Sharma shelled a catch off Jimmy Neesham.

With the batter on three, Rohit dropped a one-handed catch at mid-wicket off a top-edged pull against the bowling of Hardik Pandya.

Although the southpaw only added another nine runs, the 28-run partnership with Taylor was crucial to prevent back-to-back wickets. The Blackcaps finished on 239, which proved 18 runs too many for the Indians.

Another catch that proved costly for the Men in Blue was in the T20 World Cup final in 2014 against Sri Lanka in Mirpur, Bangladesh where Thisara Perera ended India's hopes and the moment of despair was when Perera got a massive leading edge off an Amit Mishra delivery. Ajinkya Rahane dropped the chance on the long-on boundary to end India's slim hopes.

In the 2015 ODI World Cup semi-final against Australia, Kohli took a simple chance to dismiss David Warner. But what followed was carnage, with Steve Smith and Aaron Finch taking the Indian bowlers apart in their 182-run second-wicket partnership.

A disgruntled Indian outfit continued leaking runs as the Aussies, in front of a packed home crowd at the SCG, raced past 300. The icing on the cake moment was when their nemesis Kohli dropped a straightforward chance of Brad Haddin in the final over of the innings at deep mid-wicket.

Although the drop was inconsequential to the final score, it summed up India's bowling and fielding performance as Australia finished at 328/7 in 50 overs. In reply, the Men in Blue were bowled out for 233 to end their hopes of defending the title they won in 2011.