Ramiz Raja reckons dropped catches can turn detrimental to England's road to victory at Edgbaston

England and India are currently playing the first of the five-match Test series at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The home team bowled the Brits out for 287 runs in the first innings. Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow put on an impressive 100+ run partnership after which off-break bowler Ravichandran Ashwin picked up some late wickets to push the Poms on the backfoot.

India got off to an impressive start courtesy of a 50-run stand between Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan. However, Sam Curran and Ben Stokes reduced the visitors to 100/5. In the meantime, Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper buckled down to drag the team out of the pits. He went on to notch his maiden Test century on English soil in 172 deliveries and eventually finished with 149 runs.

England’s poor show in the slip cordon

In the second innings, England huffed and puffed, but Sam Curran’s whirlwind half-century propelled the hosts’ score to 180 runs. India, during their run chase, have lost five wickets by the close of play on the third day. They are still 84 runs adrift from the target of 194 runs to win their maiden Test at the venue in their seventh match. Kohli and Dinesh Karthik are the overnight batsmen.

Meanwhile, Ramiz Raja, the former Pakistani cricketer, believes that dropped catches can turn out to be detrimental to England’s chances of victory. While Dawid Malan dropped a couple in India’s first innings, Keaton Jennings and Alastair Cook spilled one each. Malan’s horror run in the slip cordon continued as he dropped Vijay in India’s second innings.

The 55-year-old took to Twitter and wrote, “England’s been on a “drop spree” this season at home.. dropped 4 against Pakistan in the slips at Lords-lost the game -and so far 4 in this Test against India and probably will lose again..,”

Here is Raja’s tweet

England’s been on a “drop spree” this season at home.. dropped 4 against Pakistan in the slips at Lords-lost the game -and so far 4 in this Test against India and probably will lose again..

— Ramiz Raja (@iramizraja) August 3, 2018

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