Dropped catches let us down, says Bangar

Rajkot: The dropped catches of England captain Alastair Cook and debutant opener Haseeb Hameed in the first hour of play spoiled India’s chances of getting an early crack at the visiting team’s middle-order, conceded India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar here on Wednesday.
“In the first session of day one of a Test match there’s always something in the wicket. Whether you bat or bowl first, you need to make the first session count. There were unfortunately a couple of dropped catches which did not allow us to make those early dents into their bating line-up. That set us back,” said Bangar at the media conference after day one of the opening cricket Test.
“We could have definitely started well in that first session. Had we taken those catches we would probably have been asking questions to their middle-order,” Bangar rued.
Cook was dropped on zero off the third ball of the series opener by Ajinkya Rahane at gully off Mohammed Shami, while Hameed was grassed at first slip by Murali Vijay off the other medium-pacer Umesh Yadav in the 10th over when the 19-year-old was on 13 in a team score of 24. (PTI)