A timeless truth bites Team India: Catches win matches

Team India had a golden opportunity to secure an ODI series win in New Zealand for the first time since 2018-19 when they entered the fourth match of the ongoing five-game series at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, on Friday.

India took the field without regular captain Shubman Gill and KL Rahul as they and a few other players had already left the ODI squad to begin preparations for the two-match Test series against New Zealand, which gets underway on November 19.

The toss fell in favour of stand-in captain Shreyas Iyer, who elected to field first. It appeared to be the right decision as rookie pacer Auqib Nabi made an immediate impact with the new ball.

Nabi produced a near-perfect outswinger in his very first over, pitching it on a good length just outside off stump and drawing Will Young forward. Facing only his fifth delivery, Young poked tentatively at the ball and edged it towards Rohit Sharma at first slip. The chance came at knee height, but the former India captain failed to hold on.

Unfazed by the disappointment, Nabi returned to the top of his mark and delivered an almost identical ball. Once again, Young nicked it, but this time the edge flew towards wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan. Diving full stretch to his right with an outstretched hand, Kishan came agonisingly close but could not complete the catch.

Frustration was written all over Nabi's face as he looked skyward in disbelief before collecting his cap from umpire Chris Brown. What had seemed like a dream start had turned into a potentially match-defining over.

Young capitalised fully on the double reprieve, going on to score a career-best 125 off 108 balls, an innings studded with 14 fours and four sixes. It was a magnificent knock that deserved all the plaudits it received, but it is equally true that it might never have unfolded had those two chances been taken.

There is a reason cricket's oldest adages continue to stand the test of time. India received a painful reminder of one of them in Mount Maunganui. By the end of the evening, the missed opportunities had snowballed into their second-largest defeat (244 runs) by runs in ODI cricket, reinforcing a lesson every cricketer learns early in their journey: catches win matches.