Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped five catches in the first Test match at Headingley, including the key catch of Ben Duckett in the second innings with England chasing.
His catching inability was one of the many reasons that contributed to India's loss at Headingley as they began their WTC 2025-27 campaign with a defeat.
Amid India's poor bowling apart from Jasprit Bumrah, Jaiswal's missed chances frustrated the Indian fielders, fans and commentators alike. Statistically, in his last nine Test matches, Jaiswal has dropped 12 catches in key matches.
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Yashasvi Jaiswal Dropped 12 Catches In Last Nine Tests
He dropped several catches in the Test series against Australia before the WTC final. The trend has continued with him dropping five more in the very first match of India's new campaign.
The young Indian batter has faced a lot of criticism with even Sunil Gavaskar calling out his efforts as "not Test class". Meanwhile, former India fielding coach R Sridhar in an exclusive interview with Sportstar, spoke about what makes catching in England difficult.
"Going on the first tour to England and adapting and being a good slip fielder is not an easy task. You can practice all you want, but in the match, it’s quite challenging. The conditions are very cold, so the fingers get very numb. And secondly, the Duke's ball wobbles a lot as it comes towards you. It’s not easy to catch," Sridhar told Sportstar.
With Yashasvi Jaiswal being criticised by the likes of Gavaskar and Stuart Broad, the former India fielding coach came to his rescue saying that he is a good fielder and it is easy to criticise from the commentary box.
"He [Jaiswal] is actually an excellent gully fielder. Make no mistake. He's had just two bad games – one in Melbourne, one here in Leeds. Otherwise, he's been exceptional. The catches he took against Bangladesh in Kanpur were outstanding. It's easy to sit in the commentary box and criticise, but these are challenging conditions, and for many of them, it’s their first experience of this environment," he added.
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Jaiswal's Drops Cost India Big Time
Jaiswal dropped Ben Duckett when he was batting on 11 in the first innings. He went on to score 62. Then he dropped Ollie Pope on 60 and he went onto score a century. The youngster also dropped Harry Brook in the first innings when he was batting on 82 with a regulation chance at slips and he went on to score 99. Duckett was dropped again in the second innings by Jaiswal on 97 and he went onto score 149 in the second innings which was the turning point of the match.
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