Catches and something about them winning matches is a saying that the commentators like to espouse every time a catch goes down or a spectacular one is taken.
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India, in this long home season, have had their fair share of good catches and awful misses and it is those misses that came back to haunt them in the Pune Test match, which was won by Australia by 333 runs.
Just like Virat Kohli is the prized wicket for every opposition, Steve Smith is when it comes to playing against Australia. And to drop Smith, not once, not twice, but time after time is not just asking for trouble, it is "here, Australia, we are tired of winning Test matches at home and we want to end our winning run, so we're giving a Smith hundred to you to go on and complete a big win."
Australia have a pretty good batting lineup as it is, but if you start dropping catches and multiple ones at that, it will end up being a "there is no comeback possible from this" problem for India.
In Pune, the most worrying aspect was that, when the pressure was on and with the spinners creating chances, the fielders surrounding the batsmen failed to take their chances.
That cannot happen in Bengaluru or Ranchi or Dharamsala – one catch dropped every now and then cannot be helped – it is the nature of the game – but not the multiple ones that went down in Pune, and that too against such a great batsman like Smith.
Australia bundled India over for a paltry score in the first innings on the back of some outstanding close-in catching, and while the result might not have changed even if India had hung on to theirs, it would have been a whole lot closer than the 333 runs.
India spent a lot of time working on their catching in a training session on Wednesday and what this team under Kohli have done well is learn from their mistakes. India will be better in Bengaluru, there is no doubt about that – it is just a matter of handling the pressure situations better.
The Aussies have that know-what-to-do-when-under-pressure in-built in them, passed on from all the success they have had over the past couple of decades. So, to beat this Australia side and top them in the crucial pressure situations, India need to find another coping-under-the-pressure gear.
Kohli might have considered Alastair Cook's England as the biggest challenge in this home season, but Australia have showed they are the ones that India need to fear more. And if India are to bounce back in this series, they need to catch better, bat better, bowl better, field better – everything better, with a little bit of extra added in.
Playing a motivated Australia is hard enough, but facing an Aussie side filled with confidence from the Pune victory will be even more difficult – the true test of this No.1 Test side will be seen over the next three matches, with the first of those beginning from Saturday in Bengaluru.
