Twitter outraged after Ajinkya Rahane gave Keaton Jennings a lifeline

The opening Test between England and India at Edgbaston in Birmingham is currently underway and the first few overs have been intensified, to say the least. Joe Root won the toss and had no hesitation whatsoever to bat first. The Three Lions are unbeaten at the venue for the last one decade and would be keen to carry on with their impressive run of form in the red-ball fixtures.

During the toss, Virat Kohli made some bizarre announcements where he left out the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Kuldeep Yadav from the playing eleven. The start turned out to be a tad jittery as the players looked nervous, one of them was Ajinkya Rahane. He was given the mantle to patrol the slip cordon. However, Ajinkya Rahane flunked in his first attempt as he dropped a sitter, much to the agony of the visiting team.

Rahane lets go the opportunity

Ishant Sharma, the Indian fast-bowler, churned out a peach of a delivery, which caught Keaton Jennings in the crease. The batsman tentatively poked at an away going delivery. The ball took the outside edge of his willow and sped towards third slip where Kohli, the Indian captain was standing. However, Rahane dived on to his right to grasp the catch. Unfortunately, he was unable to latch on to the cherry.

Jennings was on nine when Rahane gave him the lifeline. He was earlier drafted into the team in place of Mark Stoneman, who was dropped after England’s Test match against Pakistan at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground. The left-hander could manage only 29 runs at Headingley in Leeds and the South African-born would be desperate to make optimum utilisation of the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Twiteratti was definitely not satisfied by Rahane’s display of fielding in the slips. Following the missed opportunity, they bashed him left, right and centre.

Here is how Twitter reacted

Here we go. A slip catch down already……

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 1, 2018

Rahane has dropped a catch, good luck India. It's a mistake happening too many times. Get a grip

— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) August 1, 2018

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! #EngVInd

— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) August 1, 2018

Old habits die hard 😢 #ENGvIND #dropcatch

— Dharan SenthilKumar. (@SvDharan) August 1, 2018

#ENGvIND
Catches win Matches…
Oh God please improve our slip feilding

— Shiva Amirishetti (@SAmirishetti) August 1, 2018

These dropped catches in slip cordons hurt India brutally when they were here in 2014. And 4 overs in to the tour and Rahane drops one again. #ENGvIND #INDvENG

— Shantanu Smart (@smartshantanu) August 1, 2018

During the catch drop :
Rahane : I got this!
Kohli : Tere baap ne bola tha mere court mei aane ko?#ENGvIND

— 👑 रमता जोगी 👑 (@Brainy_Foam) August 1, 2018

#ENGvIND #bbccricket #KyaHogaIssBaar so another series another opening spell another drop of there is one thing that can be improved irrespective of conditions thats catching, you need to practise instincts for catching when u least expect that comes from practise

— Bhaskara Reddy (@ItsMonarch) August 1, 2018

#ENGvIND don’t don’t don’t , pl …. slip guys be alert .. dnt repeat last series !! basics

— rajan minocha (@rajanngp) August 1, 2018

Poor Rahane,drops a catch so that V Kohli wouldn't drop it.#ENGvIND #INDvENG

— Vaibhavbansal (@vaibhavbnsl21) August 1, 2018

@ajinkyarahane88 Haz Started Showing Hiz Fielding Abilities & Dropped First Catch Of This Test Series,Itz Very First,We R Expecting Too Many From Him,No Doubt He Would Play A Very Huge Role To Defeat Team India 😂 #INDvENG #ENGvIND @DeepDasgupta7

— Moon!🇮🇳 (@Mr_Moon90) August 1, 2018

When Rahane doesn't catch well, he doesn't score well.#EngvInd

— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) August 1, 2018

Off radar for India this morning.. bit of swing but wicket looks a belter – even paced! And just as I say that a drop catch for the first ball bowled in a good place

— Nick Compton (@thecompdog) August 1, 2018

Ishant has already started the series with that 'unlucky' tag associated with him. Bowling beautifully only to see batsmen beating on edges and a drop catch by most reliable fielder already! Hope somehow he shrugs that tag this series..Hope! #ENGvIND #IndvEng

— Ganesh Shelke (@ganeshshelke272) August 1, 2018