8th ranked, Abdullah 4 catches. Photo: Twitter
Lahore: Pakistan fell behind other teams in slip catching, with the green caps ranked 8th.
In test cricket, slip catching is particularly useful for bowlers, and the importance of slip catchers in the patches of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and England is further increased.
A good slip catching plan can change the course of a match, but Pakistan has started to lag behind other teams in this area. Looking at the records of the past 3 years, South Africa is the top slip catching team with 89%.
Read more: Warner drops catch, Abdullah Shafique also let down Marnus Labuschagne
India is second with 87.5%, New Zealand (85.7) is at third, Bangladesh (85.7) at fourth, West Indies (79.5) at fifth, England (78.3) at sixth, Australia (76.8) at seventh, Pakistan (72.4) at eighth, and Sri Lanka (72.0) at ninth.
The recent test series has been a nightmare for Abdullah Shafique, who has only taken one catch and dropped 4 catches so far. On the first day of the Perth test, Abdullah gave a chance to Australian opener Usman Khawaja at 21.
On the first day of the Melbourne test, David Warner (2) was dropped, and Josh Hazlewood (0) also got the opportunity due to their carelessness. Pakistan’s opening bowler impressed yesterday.
Read more: Third day of the Melbourne test; discussions about Pakistani pacers’ pace
The Kangaroos had taken 4 wickets at 46 when Amir Jamal’s fantastic outswinger let the ball clip the edge of Mitchell Marsh’s (20) bat, taking it to the first slip, where Abdullah Shafique dropped the catch.
The aggressive batter changed the course of the match with a 153-run partnership with Steven Smith, contributing 96 to the Australian total.
Overall, Abdullah Shafique’s dropped catches gave the host team the opportunity to score an extra 137 runs. Finally, Captain Shan Masood took him off the slip and brought in Babar Azam.