"Our catching was good"

69.6 Harbhajan Singh to Franklin, no run, dropped by Gambhir flighted on the middle and leg, Franklin gets forward to defend, it bobs away off the bat and pad and Gambhir dives from short leg ,gets his right palm under the ball but couldn't hold on. The bowler and the close-in fielders jump in the air in anticipation before sighing in disappointment

78.6 Tendulkar to McCullum, no run, dropped by Munaf Patel at mid-off. It was the dipping full toss, McCullum is beaten by the dip as he pushes forward to drive.Munaf is slightly late in reacting but rushes forward and lunges out but can only get his fingertips to it,

90.3 Tendulkar to O'Brien, 2 runs, dropped by Ishant at square leg. It was the dipping full toss, swept straight to Ishant, at backward square leg, who makes a right royal mess of it. What a clanger!

And this is only on the last day of the final Test.

Take any of those catches ( the Ishant one especially), and the Indians would have been singing in the rain. Instead, Dhoni will now have to front up and defend why he declared so late and why he did not give his team the opportunity to press on for a win.

For mine, I find no fault in the declaration.Because not only were the Kiwi bowlers leg weary, the fielders too would have felt the effects of being in the field for the better part of 7 days. And like it has been said, a 600 plus score changes the mind set completely with regards to approaching the game( and constructing the innings).

The problem for me is the catching. Close in, out field, the works. And the thing is, for the longest time that I can remember, India may not have been spectacular on the field, but was a very safe catching side. But the standards are slipping.

If India had held on to its catches, this game would have been over much sooner. With the result in India's favor.

That it is not has very little to do with the declaration. And everything to do with butter fingers.