Part of game: India skipper Suryakumar on India's missed catches at Asia Cup

Dubai [UAE], September 26 (ANI): Skipper Suryakumar Yadav addressed India’s chaotic catching display at the ongoing Asia Cup and came to his side’s defence by classifying it as a “part of the game”.

In the last two Super Fours appearances, Indian fielders have been confronted by the harsh reality of the art of taking catches under the lights in Dubai. The catching conundrum grabbed the spotlight during the six-wicket triumph over arch-rival Pakistan.

The four dropped catches and a couple of errors in the field summed up India’s bizarre effort in the field. The pattern continued on Wednesday during India’s second Super Fours contest against Bangladesh.

Saif Hassan, Bangladesh’s lone crusader, was handed four unprecedented lifelines. Indian fielders dropped him on scores of 40, 65, 66 and 67. On the fifth instance, Axar Patel didn’t overcalculate and punched Saif’s return ticket on 69(51) off Jasprit Bumrah in the 19th over.

During India’s final Super Fours clash against Sri Lanka, Suryakumar was quizzed about India’s nightmare on the field. The Indian skipper didn’t dwell on it much and said during the toss, “It is part of the game.”

Before facing Sri Lanka, India has dropped 12 catches and boasts an efficiency rate of 67.5 per cent, the second-lowest among all participating nations. In the aftermath of victory against Bangladesh, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy emphasised the need to capitalise on the opportunities, but the stadium’s “ring of fire” certainly acts as a distraction.

“You can’t give excuses at this level. As a team, we have to definitely start catching those because we will be qualifying for the finals. We should be taking these catches, but definitely, if you ask me about rings of fire, it comes in the eye, something. It is a little bit of disturbance,” Chakravarthy told reporters in the post-match press conference after India’s 41-run victory.

India (Playing XI) against Sri Lanka: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(w), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy. (ANI)

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