Litton Das wasn't disappointed as much as he was shocked and in disbelief. His slightly elevated shot, Das must have thought, was destined to travel to the boundary. But Rohit Sharma appeared out of nowhere, stretched full length and stuck his arm out to take a stunning one-handed catch at mid-off. After no play was possible on Sunday, Day 4 of the Test between India and Bangladesh in Kanpur was lit up by the India captain's this moment of sheer brilliance. Das stayed there for a while before gingerly making his way back to the hut and kept looking back in disbelief. It was one of those blink-and-you-miss moments. Even Rohit was surprised with his jump that was timed to perfection. Shubman Gill, standing at short mid-off, was holding his head in disbelief, too. Mohammed Siraj, the bowler was as stunned as Das. FOLLOW IND vs BAN LIVE SCORE One hand, all class 🤯👌 Captain Rohit Sharma takes a stunner to dismiss Liton Das!☝️#INDvBAN #JioCinemaSports #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries pic.twitter.com/Raq8OoLAlI — JioCinema (@JioCinema) September 30, 2024 The celebration went on for a few moments with each fielder making sure to give the captain a pat on the back. One can say the ball just stuck into his hand, but it was the athleticism and the natural instinct of the 37-year-old, which gave the Kanpur crowd a treat after a frustrating two-and-a-half days, where they braved the rain and inclement weather with a hope that the action would resume. But the poor drainage at the Green Park stadium has left each one of them frustrated. Das must be kicking himself for not getting elevation on the shot while trying to take on Siraj. He departed for 13. Siraj returns the favour In the past few weeks, the meme of Siraj walking out to bat, donning a cap and the willow on his shoulder has been doing the rounds. Siraj's swag has been compared to that of the great Vivian Richards. On Monday, he emulated another legend, Kapil Dev, whose stunning catch in the 1983 ODI World Cup final at the Lord's to dismiss Richards is cherished even now. Siraj pulled off something similar. Another outstanding catch and this time it is @mdsirajofficial who picks up a tough one to dismiss Shakib Al Hasan. Live - … #INDvBAN@IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/RbKZKDdGAW — BCCI (@BCCI) September 30, 2024 Shakib, like Das, shimmied down the track and wanted to clear the fielder off R Ashwin’s bowling. However, he lost the grip of the bottom hand and skied it. Standing at mid-off, Siraj backpedaled, took the ball over his head and then tumbled on his back while keeping the ball safe in his hands. After completing the catch, Siraj threw the ball, and celebrated by raising his fists before he was crowded by his teammates. Surely, these two catches will go down as the finest catches the Green Park audience had ever witnessed. Barring the one drop catch by Virat Kohli at the second slip to give centurion Mominul Haque a reprieve, India's fielding in this series has been astounding. On the opening day of the second Test, Yashasvi Jaiswal produced a stunning effort at gully to remove Bangladesh opener Zakir Hasan off Akash Deep's bowling. At Chepauk last week, Jaiswal had leaped to his left to complete a one-handed catch of the same batter, after an outside edge was induced by Jasprit Bumrah's away swinger from over the wicket. India’s fielding coach T Dilip was also all-praise for Jaiswal in his assessment of the latter’s catch in Chennai, “It was one of the best you could have seen. Towards his non-dominant side a really low, ball dipping in and he is running forward and the ball dipping fast. He took it with one hand, it was an absolute blinder of a catch, especially for a gully fielder.”
