New Delhi:
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 tournament has seen plenty of splendid catches, from Ben Stokes to Sheldon Cottrell. In the penultimate week, there have been some good catches from wicketkeepers. However, for the International Cricket Council (ICC), it seems they are still hungover on India vs Pakistan contest which took place in Manchester on June 16. India won that match by 89 runs via DLS method and extended their streak to 7-0. Recently, the ICC decided to cash in on India vs Pakistan rivalry by putting out an Instagram post. The video showed Sarfaraz Ahmed and MS Dhoni in a split image taking catches.
The caption was: Who did it better? The short video featured two catches, one from Dhoni during the game against West Indies in Manchester while the other was Sarfaraz against New Zealand in Birmingham. In the West Indies clash, Carlos Brathwaite edged a back of a length delivery angled in from Jasprit Bumrah outside off stump. Dhoni, who was initially wrong-footed slightly, recovered and dived to his right to take a stunning one-handed catch.
In the other video, Shaheen Afridi bowled to Ross Taylor and he angled across a full ball outside off. Taylor drove at it and the edge was snapped up by Sarfaraz who dived to his right and took a brilliant one-handed catch. While it was no surprise that Dhoni took a blinder, it must be pointed out that Sarfaraz’s catch was simply brilliant because of the low standard of Pakistan fielding. In the World Cup, Pakistan has dropped the most catches by any team and thus, this effort by Sarfaraz, looking at how shoddy Pakistan is in the outfield, is nothing short of miraculous.
Pakistan remains in the hunt for the semi-final after beating New Zealand by seven wickets thanks to Babar Azam’s maiden World Cup ton. India, on the other hand, needs only one win out of their remaining three games to seal their spot in the semi-final. As far as the catch is concerned, let it be left to the fans of India and Pakistan to decide who took the catch better.
