Ranji Trophy Final: Missed catches prove costly for Mumbai as Gujarat take control
It began with the rookie Prithvi Shaw at the end of Day One when he dropped a sitter of in-form opener Samit Gohil in the first over off Shardul Thakur.
Going by the way Mumbai fielders have let catches slip, perhaps they had greasy maska pav for breakfast and couldn't wash their hands off it.
As many as three catches were dropped in the first innings against Gujarat on the second day of the Ranji Trophy final at the Holkar Stadium here on Wednesday. If not the butter fingers, it would have been a different story for the Mumbai outfit, chasing its 42nd title.
It began with the rookie Prithvi Shaw at the end of Day One when he dropped a sitter of in-form opener Samit Gohil in the first over off Shardul Thakur.
However, that chance did not cost Mumbai much as the batsman was sent back by Thakur in the first hour of play on Day Two at the score of four.
Experienced Shreyas Iyer was caugh napping in the field and even then skipper Aditya Tare missed the third albeit a difficult one.
Iyer's butter finger turned out to be expensive as he dropped middle-order batsman Manpreet Juneja, off seamer Abhishek Nayar, when he was on 15.
Nayar pitched one up on the middle-stump that saw Juneja flick it off the pads, straight to the mid-wicket. However, Iyer, who wasn't alert on the field, dropped an easy catch. The right-hander went on to score 77, before Shardul Thakur sent him back home.
The other opportunity came towards the end of the day. Medium-pacer Balwinder Singh Sandhu JR was moving the new ball well and in the process he found Chirag Gandhi's edge while going for a drive.
Wicket-keeper Tare dived to his right for a single-handed catch, but failed to grab the opportunity as it brush past his gloves and went to the boundary.
Gandhi is now sitting pretty at 17 not out with Rush Kalaria on 16.
Tare said he is disappointed with his team's effort in the field. "Had we taken the opportunities, it would have been a different story, but it happens in the game and we have to accept it. There was another opportunity (where Tare got Parthiv Patel caught off Thakur) but it was no ball. We have to accept it. It was an important one," he said.