India’s fielding and catching have left a lot to be desired in the ongoing tour of Australia. Across seven games in the three formats, the visitors have dropped close to 20 catches apart from other misfielding.
Some of the dropped catches have cost heavily as well. India failed to judge a catch of Steve Smith in the first ODI, when he was on 38, and he went on to score a match-winning 105 off 66 balls. In the opening Test, they dropped Marnus Labuschagne multiple times before dropping Tim Paine, who eventually scored 73* and took Australia within 53 runs of India’s first innings total of 244.
In this regard, former cricketer Mohammed Kaif, who is widely deemed as one of the best fielders produced by India, has said that the current Indian players are not giving as much importance to fielding and catching during practice as they are giving to batting and bowling.
"We see brilliant catches, but overall if someone says Indian fielding is improving I will avoid commenting because what I've seen over the past five-six months, Indians have fielded very poorly, they have to improve a lot," Kaif quoted as saying by IANS.
"It is all a result of less training. Strictly speaking, a player should be selected in the XI only if he reaches a standard of fielding. A lot of catches are being dropped. Even Virat Kohli is dropping catches. Everyone is dropping, it is happening since IPL. Players had come straight from lock-down to IPL -- there was rustiness I can understand since fielding is directly connected to fitness. Players were there for four months at home, it is not easy. But after three-four months, even in Australia it is happening. That is an issue to be worried about," he added.
Kaif, who represented India in 125 ODIs and 13 Tests, also shared his two cents on how the Indian team can improve in the fielding department.
"If you work hard on the field, the body gets into rhythm on its own and the eye is automatically set on the ball. Generally, what I have observed is that players spend the least time on fielding. They spend a lot of time on batting and bowling and in the gym, but not on the ground, where actual fielding takes place. Slip fielding, square-leg fielding, catching at cover -- every different angle brings a different challenge. Every area brings a new challenge. I feel players are practicing fielding less," he remarked.
According to Kaif, one needs to have a proper plan like batting and bowling in the nets to become a world-class fielder.
"In batting and bowling you follow a plan -- like you will bowl yorker for a period or play lofted shots for a session. But in fielding I have seen people say, okay let us do it for 15-20 minutes. It is done. We talk about fitness, there is a difference in gym and ground training," he said.
"As a coach, I tell kids that if they have to learn fielding they will have to work on it for an hour, hour-and-a-half, even two-and-a-half hours. Until you get tired, exhausted or your hands become sore after taking catches. Then only you can become a better fielder," he explained.
(With IANS inputs)
