'Catches win matches' is one of the most widely used proverbs in the game of cricket. And that could have the case when a high-flying Jos Buttler edged a Harshal Patel delivery in the 11th over of Rajasthan Royals' chase, offering a simple catch to Royal Challengers Bangalore wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. Inexplicably, though, Karthik failed to take the regulation catch with Buttler batting on 66 at the time. The Rajasthan Royals star went on to hit an unbeaten 106 to help his team reach their first IPL final since 2008. For Dinesh Karthik and RCB, it was a case of what could have been.
In Karthik's defence, RR were well on their way to chasing down the target and Buttler's wicket might not have made a difference in the larger scheme of things.
While on the flip side, had Karthik taken the catch, who knows, RR might have crumbled and had a batting collapse.
But just the fact that Karthik dropped a catch so simple, was hard to fathom.
Watch: Dinesh Karthik drops a simple catch of Jos Buttler during the RR vs RCB IPL 2022 Qualifier 2
In the match, RR won the toss and elected to field.
RCB lost Virat Kohli again but Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar steadied the ship. Patidar went on to scored 58 runs off 42 balls. Glenn Maxwell smashed 24 off 13 balls but was dismissed by Trent Boult before he could do any serious damage.
RCB lost their way in the final five overs with RR pacers Obed McCoy and Prasidh Krishna putting the squeeze on the opposition.
RR made mince meat of the target in front of them. Yashasvi Jaiswal gave the team a fast start before Buttler took over. The Englishman scored his fourth century in IPL 2022 to help RR chase down the target with seven wickets in hand and 11 balls to spare.