4 min readMar 27, 2026 09:42 AM IST
The destination of the ICC T20 World Cup would probably have been different had it not been for the faultless execution of a facet of the game that’s almost taken for granted these days.
A total of 253 was never meant to be threatened, but a combination of the flat Wankhede Stadium pitch, the small ground and Jacob Bethell announcing his arrival on the big stage, meant that England remained in the hunt in the semifinal despite their top order contributing next to nothing. A requirement of 82 in a little over six overs was a tall task, but the way Bethell and England’s man of the tournament Will Jacks were going in their 77-run stand in just over six overs, Suryakumar Yadav and his troops, as well as the packed Mumbai crowd, couldn’t rest easy.
It was then that Axar Patel and the relay catch with Shivam Dube made the decisive intervention. Arshdeep Singh slanted one full and wide of Jacks’s off-stump. The batsman’s slice seemed to be, for all intents and purposes, falling into vacant real estate, before Axar materialised close to the boundary rope, with Dube in close attendance.
Running full tilt from deep cover, the left-arm spinner stretched to catch the ball before his momentum took him beyond the rope. But by that time, he had already tossed it to the waiting hands of Dube. Even though Bethell kept fighting till the final over, England were always fighting a losing battle from that point onwards.
It was arguably the most high-profile instance of the relay catch on the boundary making a match-deciding impact, but it has become so commonplace that neither Axar nor Dube made too much of it.
“I initially thought I wouldn’t get there, but then realised I could reach. Credit should also go to Shivam because he hung back and did not charge into me,” said the man who did all the hard work.
“When I took that catch, I noticed from the corner of my eye that I was running towards the boundary ropes. It was a fraction-of-a-second decision. I was thinking Shivam was standing right there so I can just lob the ball and he can easily catch it.”
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Dube also stressed on the moment’s significance in the larger scheme of things rather than the athleticism and co-ordination involved.
“I knew it was in his (Axar’s) reach, so I slowed down. If Axar tried to stop it from going for a six, he would throw the ball to me. It was just anticipation that Axar will go all out to stop the ball. That catch was the moment for me too. Things changed in a close game with that catch,” the tall all-rounder told The Indian Express later.
There’s a reason such catches are downplayed by fielders these days, even if commentators and fans go overboard in praise. This particular skill – tag-team relay catches close to the boundary rope – are practised so assiduously these days that it’s a surprise and a disappointment for the fielding team when one of these efforts doesn’t succeed.
In the IPL, with the scoring graph going higher each season, fielding makes the vital difference. Relay catches are a bonafide skill now and two fielders are expected to go after a high ball that goes close to the rope. But they have to be a suitable distance apart so as to not come in each other’s way while being close enough so that the fielder catching the ball initially can safely lob the ball to his waiting teammate.
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If it sounds simple, it’s because fielding teams have perfected the mantra. The IPL has seen several such catches taken over the years – sometimes the player making the initial effort himself comes back into play to complete the catch without any assistance – and the upcoming season will doubtless add to the roster.
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