Watch: Kusal Perera drops ‘one of the easiest catches in cricket’ in horror over for Sri Lanka
Watch: Kusal Perera dropped an absolute sitter in the fifth over of the Australian innings, but things only got worse a couple of balls later.
Australia got off to an absolute flier in their chase of 155, and were 43 without loss at the end of the fourth over. Sri Lanka seamer Dushamantha Chameera was taken apart in the first two balls of the fifth over, with Aaron Finch adding a six and a four, before taking a single off the third delivery. The game seemed to be slipping out of Sri Lanka’s hands when Chameera bowled a short delivery down the leg side.
As luck would have it, the Australia batter David Warner ended up gloving the ball. It popped up and lobbed in the direction of the keeper, who moved to his left to take an easy catch. However, somehow he managed to misjudge the ball, and couldn’t quite hold on to the simplest of chances.
“Glove, oh my goodness,” said Simon Doull on commentary. “Wow! Floated through to the keeper off the gloves of David Warner, that is a chance gone begging.”
It was a pretty simple take, yet somehow Perera managed to miss it. The bowler had started celebrating, and the umpire had begun to raise his finger when the chance went down.
Kusal Perera now has an entry on a list no one wants to be on; the easiest catches dropped in cricket!
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 28, 2021
Umpire Richard Illingworth was already raising his finger by the time Kusal Perera dropped that catch 😬#T20WorldCup | #AUSvSL pic.twitter.com/MjmpM9JV1q
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) October 28, 2021
However, this wasn’t the worst bit for the bowler in the over. A couple of deliveries later, Chameera let the ball slip, with the erratic delivery landing off the strip, and deemed a no ball.
Perera had already been on the wrong end of a memorable moment, bowled by a scorching Mitchell Starc yorker.
You can watch the unbelievable Perera drop here:
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