He said Indians need to learn to adapt to the bounce in Australia quickly.
Veteran Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has pointed out that India's fielding lapses were a major disappointment in the team’s 66-run defeat at the hands of Australia in the tour opening ODI of the three-match series in Sydney on Friday (November 27).
Indian bowlers were already being taken for a ride by the Australian batsmen as they were badly hit by centurion Aaron Finch, Steve Smith and David Warner, and then Glenn Maxwell to take the hosts to their highest ODI total (374/6) against India on Friday.
Then, dropped catches and misfields made things even more difficult for the under-pressure Indian bowlers as none of the bowlers be it Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal or Ravindra Jadeja managed to leave an impact in Sydney except Mohammad Shami.
After Team India’s 66-run defeat, Harbhajan said poor fielding put the bowlers down in the first ODI, saying the Indian bowlers got hurt by the lack of support from their fielders against Australia.
Harbhajan Singh said on India Today Live about India’s loss to Australia: “Things didn’t go India’s way. I would say India played some good cricket (in Sydney) but in patches. But, yeah, the fielding was a bit sloppy, lot of misfield, lot of missed catches.”
He further added, “In the international arena, you would want to take each (and every catch) that comes your way but unfortunately that didn’t happen today. If the fielders are not supporting the bowler, the bowler is going to get hurt. That’s what happened today.”
The veteran also said bowlers must learn from the Sydney ODI loss and suggested they need to change their line and length to trouble the Australian batters.
Harbhajan further explained, “I think apart from (Mohammad) Shami everyone had an off day. This was the first game and playing in Australia you got to adjust to the bounce and the conditions. What all lengths you need to bowl. So the Indian bowling line, to start with, they bowled the initial overs a bit short with the new ball.”
He signed off by saying, “Could’ve looked to bowl a little fuller for an early breakthrough, which didn’t happen, and that’s one of the reasons Australia got a lot of runs on the board which weakened India’s chances while chasing.”