Bangladesh are paying the price of dropped catches and with the two-match Test series against India around the corner, the hosts need to make sure that they don't drop the chances that might hurt them.

In the last game of the three-match ODI series against India at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Saturday host had their chances and spilled it.

India won the third and final ODI against Bangladesh, but things could have been different had skipper Liton Das managed to hold Virat Kohli’s sitter at the short wicket when he was batting on 1.

“My catch (drop) was a costly one. If I could hold the catch it would have been a different story. Everyone expects me to hold such a catch that includes the team alongside me as well,” Liton said in the post-match press conference in Chattogram on Saturday.

“This is cricket and at times you will miss an easy catch while there will be times when you hold difficult ones. It will be a good one and a bad one but I feel we need to improve by doing regular practice,” he concluded.

All-rounder Mehidy Hasan deceived Kohli in flight while he was playing a very lazy little flick that went straight to Litton at an easy pace. The chance was dropped and not only did Kohli manage to score his first ODI hundred in three years but along the way guided young batter Ishan Kishan to his maiden double hundred in the 50-over format. The departure of Kohli at that point could have made things different for the tourists as Kishan might have played differently if not anything else.

Read more: Rohit ruled out of Bangladesh first Test

Ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan also failed to hold a difficult catch of Kishan when he was on 84 during the 20th over of the play since then it looked the left-handed batsman was in a different zone since getting away with the slog sweep against Mehidy.

If statistics are taken into consideration it clearly suggests that catching has become one of their weakest links in the recent past and they need to make sure that they improve in this area for getting positive results.

Bangladesh played 21 T20Is in 2022 whereas they dropped 18 catches in 10 games that included dropping nine catches from five games of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Bangladesh played 15 ODIs so far this year where they dropped 24 catches in 12 games among them and played eight Test matches while they dropped catches in every Test match, 17 to be precise.

Bangladesh fielding coach Shane McDermott said on Friday ahead of the third ODI in Chattogram that his charges need to understand how to absorb pressure as a fielder and get over from fear factor and self-doubt as it hampers their confidence level.

“The biggest transition from domestic, academy or ‘A’ team cricket to international cricket is the word called pressure. My greatest challenge is to get the players to understand what the pressure is,” said McDermott.

“In my opinion, it’s the element of fear of failure or self-doubt in your ability. Trying to educate the players on what the ‘pressure’ actually looks like, is one of our greatest focus areas in cricket. It impairs our confidence,” he said.

“We have to challenge the players to commit a little bit more when things are not going the way we like them. We want them to be courageous. The coaching group is trying to take the pressure away from the players,” he said.

“Talking about the fear factor, we think about our potential and what are the repercussions of dropping a catch when the ball is in the air. We see a lot of high balls dropped under lights because the fielders have time to think. Trying to train what we think when the ball is in the air, is a very hard task but it can be learned,” he said.

“When we drop catches under lights in critical moments, we create one of the greatest learning experiences. When the player walks off the ground, hopefully having won the game, we can easily say to them that look, catches don’t lose the matches. It is a fact. It happens quite regularly. It is a part of the game. Obviously, we want to drop as few catches as possible. As a team, if we drop a catch, our support staff and our team are gelling together really well. We are trying to keep everyone’s spirits high,” he concluded.

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