Top 3 catches from Week 3 of 2023 World Cup ft. Ravindra Jadeja

After taking a couple of feeler weeks, the fielding and catching standards have drastically gone up in the 2023 World Cup. We saw jokes about 'Australia fielding like Pakistan' followed by 'Pakistan fielding like Australia' recently but apart from that there have been stunning out-field and sharp in-field displays galore.

And surely, these have made an immense difference to the teams' fortunes. For instance, in the first match of the third week between India and Bangladesh, Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz were looking solid in their third-wicket partnership when KL Rahul leaped to his wrong hand to catch a trickle of Mehidy's bat.

There was no help whatsoever in the wicket and the bowler, Mohammed Siraj, was having an off day. Siraj's spirits revitalized, Indian shoulders strengthened, and Bangladesh collapsed after the catch. India went on to win by seven wickets.

Rahul's catch is our special mention for this week's best takes. Below we have three more curated for you, which were even better than this:

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#3 Charith Assalanka

In the third match of the week between the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, Charith Asalanka took a stunner in the outfield to send back Logan van Beek. The batter was batting well at 59 (74) amid a Dutch fightback after an early collapse.

Trying to take the game on in the 49th over, he dragged one from outside the off-stump against pacer Kasun Rajitha and hoicked it over mid-wicket. It looked like going for six but Asalanka made good ground and put in a big dive forward and across to catch it. The angle and timing of the dive were exceptional.

He slid through and was just inches away from the boundary ropes!

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#2 Roelof van der Merwe

This was pure reflexes, so good that even the camera couldn't follow it in real-time. Australia's Steve Smith, batting so well for 71 against the Netherlands on the flat Delhi wicket, cut one ball from Aryan Dutt ferociously to point.

Roelof van der Merwe, 38, as athletic as anybody in the cricketing world, pushed his body back and across and hung his right palm out just centimeters over the ground. The ball stuck and Smith had to go.

What made the catch even more special was that in just the previous over, David Warner on the other end had hit an uppish drive against Bas de Leede which van der Merwe caught flying to his right at covers.

However, the decision was sent upstairs. The ball looked to have touched the grass after he completed the catch and the third umpire reckoned that van der Merwe was not in control.

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#1 Ravindra Jadeja

This was the catch that helped Ravindra Jadeja trump Rahul's moment of magic against Bangladesh and win the 'Best Fielder' medal from his fielding coach T Dilip in the unofficial ceremony in the Indian dressing room.

It was more important than Rahul's because the batter was Bangladesh's best, Mushfiqur Rahim. Jasprit Bumrah, who had bowled a brilliant spell on the day, hurled a loose short and wide one to Rahim, who rocked back and cut it sharply.

Jadeja was at backward point and he knew that as soon as he went for the dive, the ball would have crossed him. So he threw himself at an angle and got almost parallel to the ground to pluck it out of thin air. What followed was a (successful) celebration, a medal-wearing gesture towards Dilip in the pavilion.