Ajay Jadeja opined that the current captain, Rohit Sharma, was not much bothered about fielding, as things were different under Virat Kohli after Team India lost their last Super 12 match at the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 against South Africa, majorly due to poor fielding in Perth.
The Indian team dropped a couple of catches in Perth and it cost them the match against South Africa, as the Men in Blue were put in a position where they have to win their remaining two Super 12 matches against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to qualify for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022.
In the India vs South Africa Super 12 clash, Kohli first dropped a sitter, which gave Aiden Markram a lifeline, and later missed a run-out chance against the same batter who eventually won the match for the South African side to boost their semifinal chances.
Ajay Jadeja said in a video posted on Cricbuzz: “I think the Asian teams are not giving importance to fielding. Last time I heard about giving importance to fielding was when Virat Kohli became Team India's captain. He had taken a decision of including only those players, who are good fielders.”
The former Indian cricketer continued, “He is no longer the captain and the coach has also changed. The new captain is not bothered about fielding. He is more concerned about batting and bowling. So, the current Team India that you have is not much athletic.”
Jadeja further criticized R Ashwin and Mohammad Shami's fielding capabilities as well. He signed off by saying, “Who are the fielders we have? We have Ashwin and Shami. In terms of bowling, these two are great but you can't expect good fielding from them. When you pick a team, you know what you want and I think Team India has not given much attention to their fielding.”
