Pakistan’s poor fate in taking catches continued yet again. Playing his final Test match, David Warner was offered a lifeline when a mistimed toilet break helped the Aussie star. Warner’s catch was dropped at the slips by Saim Ayub granting him further time on the pitch.
Test debutant Saim Ayub who was positioned in the slips dropped a catch, much to the dismay of his team. The slip position initially belonged to Agha Salman who was off the field for a toilet break. However, Salman has come on to defend the youngster claiming catch drops are a part of the game.
But Ayub’s catch drop didn’t prove too costly for the visitors in the grand scheme of things. After surviving the catch drop on 20, he added 14 more runs before departing. But catch drops, especially the ones made by Abdullah Shafique in Melbourne prompted Pakistan to change their fielder personnel at the slip position.
In the Sydney Test, Babar Azam occupied the 1st slip spot while Agha Salman took the second spot. However, when Salman went for the toilet break, Saim Ayub took the 1st slip spot.
“I was off the field for a pee break. Just for two overs. Probably seven or eight balls, actually. I was off for Sajid (Khan)’s over and when I came back one ball of the Jamal over had been bowled,” said Salman.
“I was sitting next to the subs bench and I saw the video and I knew I was in trouble! I think there’s a curse on first slip. It can happen to anyone. If Babar was there he would have dropped that catch too,” Ayub said.