‘You don't lose cricket matches because of one moment’- Sanjay Manjrekar on Arshdeep Singh's dropped catch against Pakistan

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar opined on the impact of pressure and felt that the drop catch from Arshdeep Singh was not the turning point in India-Pakistan. Chasing 182 to win, Pakistan was always up with the required rate and never left it to run away. In fact, Mohammad Nawaz’s promotion up the order brought down the required rate down.  

However, India fought back with two quick wickets and Ravi Bishnoi managed to get the top edge of big hitting Asif Ali in the 18th over, but Arshdeep wasn’t up to the task and dropped a sitter under pressure. Ali hit two fours and a six after that and Pakistan ended up winning the close game by five wickets.  

Arshdeep would have taken that catch normally, almost with one eye closed: Sanjay Manjrekar 

Manjrekar mentioned the different views of the drop catch from the pressure perspective and felt that Arshdeep would have held on to the catch "99 out of 100 times". He noted that it was Ali’s reputation which created the pressure alongside the India-Pakistan game, and added that it was the reason behind him not enquiring Rohit Sharma about the dropped catch. He concluded that the blaming Arshdeep for the loss would be unfair. 

“I'm going to become like a psychologist. I'll go very deep into the psyche of people. What is pressure? Pressure is when you have to perform an act and when performing the act, a thought comes into your head that this is a very important act. That's when pressure gets to you. So, in normal course, Chinmay for example would have taken that catch. Anybody would have taken that catch who’s played a bit of cricket. Arshdeep would have taken that catch normally, almost with one eye closed, 99 times out of 100,” Speaking exclusively on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP’, Sanjay Manjrekar told.  

“Maybe a thought that this is India vs Pakistan. This is a crucial catch and Asif Ali got him to drop that. It's one of those things that happens. And that's why I didn't ask Rohit Sharma whether that catch was the turning point. Because it shouldn't be just one drop catch at a certain stage of the game. Pinning the blame on Arshdeep Singh, a young cricketer would not have been fair. You don't lose cricket matches because of one moment. There are many contributing factors with which you lose a game, because all of those factors come by,” he added.