Watch: Shardul Thakur drops a sitter; Ben Stokes gets a life
The reverse cup attempt from the Indian seamer gave England allrounder Ben Stokes a reprieve.
India's fourth seamer Shardul Thakur made a costly lapse, giving England skipper Ben Stokes a reprieve off a sitter that he dropped placed at short mid-wicket on Day 3 of the Edgbaston Test.
Thakur let go of the easiest of catches near the playing arena after a miscued swipe from Stokes that was intended to fly through to the vacant long-off region.
Facing experienced seamer Mohammad Shami from over-the-wicket angle across the left-hander, Stokes shuffled towards the on-side and aimed for a boundary down the ground.
But the England allrounder ended up top-edging the delivery for what should've been the most comfortable catch for Shardul Thakur. But the fielder made an absolute meal of it, giving the dangerous batter an extra chance.
Shardul Thakur's poor catch attempt gives Ben Stokes a reprieve
The drop catch came on the first ball of the 36th over in the England first-innings. Batting on 18 off 26 at the time, Stokes was looking to get into a rhythm to his innings and put the pressure back on India, with his team five down and still trailing the visitors by 286 runs
Looking to take down Shami in the process, the left-hander shimmied down and across to the leg-side of the ball and gave it a full monte, only to find a top-edge on the Indian seamer's rising delivery and give Shardul Thakur an easy opportunity to hand his team a critical breakthrough.
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But the fielder messed it up, with a reverse cup attempt that saw the ball bump into his hands rather than settle in and fell on the turf, much to the disappointment of Shami, the rest of the Indian cricketers and the billions of Indian fans watching.
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Shardul Thakur, however, had his moment of recovery not too late after the drop chance, as he got Stokes to play another miscued stroke down the ground off his bowling, with India's stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah diving to complete a magnificent catch.
Stokes could add only seven more runs to his kitty from the Thakur drop, giving the seamer a sigh of relief as the England allrounder was threatening to take the game back to the Indians.