One of the focal points of criticism on India’s winning tour of Australia, where they won the T20I and Test series, was the poor standard of catching. Though the ground fielding and saving fours and runs were top-notch, the catching came under scanner as the team dropped 31 catches on the tour — seven in three ODIs, 12 in three T20Is, and 12 in four Tests.
Under-fire India fielding coach R Sridhar, however, was optimistic of the players improving and said, “People tend to look at the misses but not the brilliant work done. There is definitely room for improvement. We have to believe in the process we are putting in and try to infuse fresh energy and do things which keep the boys in good shape.”
“We also have to balance the workload, monitor injuries, and practice sessions. It is a very tight rope walk. We made a distinct effort to focus on fielding after Adelaide and we did pretty well. Credit to the boys who did catch pretty well. We did drop a couple but it looks a lot easier on television,” Sridhar said.
Sridhar highlighted some moments of brilliance from Indian fielders as well, saying, “In the Adelaide Test, Virat Kohli took a brilliant catch diving to his right to get rid of Cameron Green. In Sydney, we saw (Cheteshwar) Pujara catch Smith at backward short-leg off (Ravichandran) Ashwin, which was extremely sharp. Then we saw Jaddu’s (Ravindra Jadeja) fantastic run-out of (Steve) Smith in Sydney. And Rohit (Sharma) took five catches in Brisbane, a record for an Indian fielder in Australia.”
Sridhar, a former Hyderabad Ranji spinner, counted more positive from the Indian team, than negatives.
“We got a run-out in almost every game. Matthew Wade was brilliantly run out by Wriddhiman Saha in the Adelaide Test. Because it was the second innings, it got swept away as they hardly had any runs to get. Even Rishabh (Pant) took two very good catches of (Tim) Paine and Wade in Brisbane," he said.
"Saha, substituting for Rishabh in the second innings in Sydney, pulled off a brilliant catch down the leg side to pack off Marnus Labuschagne. And Ajinkya (Rahane) catching Marnus at slip off Jaddu were all enthralling moments in the series. These we can recall with so much joy but we tend to look at only the misses most,” Sridhar rued.
(Times of India inputs)
