Star Australian cricketer Steve Smith missed a very simple catch off the bowling of Scott Boland in the second slip, as a lifeline to Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Friday (January 3). Jadeja was batting on 3 runs from six balls when a ball kissed an edge of his bat and travelled straight to Smith, but the 35-year-old Australian star failed to complete the catch.
The catch happened on the fifth ball of the 34th over of India’s first innings in the ongoing fifth Test against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground.
Jadeja was the second batter on Friday for whom Smith dropped a catch. In the morning session, Smith granted a reprieve to Virat Kohli. On that occasion, too, Boland was the bowler.
That said, Smith got one on the day, in spite of leaving out two catches, coming into the fifth Test against the Indian team after scoring centuries in his last two matches. Just before lunch, on the last ball bowled by Nathan Lyon, Smith completed the catch of Shubman Gill.
Shubman Gill, who replaced Rohit Sharma in India’s playing XI for the fifth and final Test of the series, went on to score just 20 runs from 64 deliveries as a No. 3 batter.
The lifeline at the start of his innings for Jadeja would be transformed into maximum big runs, as he ought to rescue the team from another humiliation under the stewardship of their captain, Jasprit Bumrah, and post a decent total in the first innings.
Jadeja, who occupies the Test all-rounder’s first ranking, came out to bat at No. 6 after Kohli was sent back by Boland. Kohli faced a total of 69 deliveries during his stay at the crease and scored just 17 runs before being caught in the slip by debutant Beau Webster, who also completed Yashasvi Jaiswal’s catch during the first session.
Kohli has been India’s fourth-highest run-getter in Tests, but has been caught out in the slips, seven times in this series alone.
