‘How many did you guys drop?’: Glenn Phillips snaps back at Indian reporter over catches query
New Delhi: New Zealand all-rounder Glenn Phillips snapped back at an Indian reporter after a question about his side’s fielding after the 1st T20I against in Christchurch on Thursday. The Kiwis dropped a few catches on the field, which proved costly as they failed to defend a total of 225 runs and lost the game by 4 wickets.
Phillips was asked about the dropped catches in the post-match press conference. However, the all-rounder was unhappy with the count that was mentioned. An Indian reporter asked Phillips about four dropped catches in the game, but the all-rounder argued if the hosts had actually dropped four and what constitutes a ‘drop’.
New Zealand couldn’t hold on to a few catches on the field, but a couple of them were incredibly difficult to pull off. Mitchell Santner dropped Axar Patel in the 13th over, while Matt Henry couldn’t complete a tough return catch of Axar in the 14th over. Finn Allen dropped Shreyas Iyer, while Lockie Ferguson couldn’t get his hands on an edge off Naman Dhir’s bat.
Phillips argued Ferguson’s spilled effort shouldn’t count as a dropped catch as the pacer couldn’t even get his hands to the ball. “I mean, drop catches happen,” Phillips said initially after being asked about “4 dropped catches” from New Zealand.
“Four? Which ones? Lockie? You’re counting two that no one got their hands on? Oh, yeah, so you guys are counting those? One from Mitch and one from Finn, so not really the other two; you’ve got to get your hands on the ball to catch it,” he added.
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Phillips then snapped back at the reporter and asked him about India’s fielding, questioning how many catches the visitors dropped. He defended New Zealand’s fielding by stating that catches and dropped catches are both part of the game.
“Nathan at the boundary line? One that went for six? Wow,” Phillips hit back. “How many catches did you guys drop? Okay, so you guys want to start talking fielding, then you’ve got to count the proper catches. Catches happen, and dropped catches happen, but we need to be counting them properly, okay? You’ve got to get your hands on some of them,” he went on.
India beat New Zealand by 4 wickets after record chase
India defeated New Zealand by 4 wickets in the 1st T20I in Christchurch on Thursday after pulling off a record chase. The visitors rode on a brilliant 67 from Player of the Match Sanju Samson and crucial knocks from skipper Shreyas Iyer (42) and Naman Dhir (42) to chase down the target of 226 runs with a ball to spare and record their highest successful chase in T20Is.