While India had plenty of positives galore following their defeat to England in the series opener at Headingley, Leeds, a glaring concern heading into the second match at Birmingham is their performance in the field. India’s ground fielding was still fine, but their catching was – aptly put – abysmal. The Indian fielders combined to drop 8 catches, all at critical junctures of the match. Had they held on to even 50 percent of those, the result could have been a lot different. Astonishingly, four of those eight catches were put down by one individual – Yashasvi Jaiswal. Despite scoring a magnificent century in his first innings batting in England, Jaiswal’s last image from the match would be of him dancing in front of the English crowd after dropping Ben Duckett on 97.
Stuart Broad, left, and Sunil Gavaskar, right, were a tad harsh on Yashasvi Jaiswal, centre(Reuters/PTI)
Jaiswal copped flak, but while everyone was analytical with their judgment, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and ex-England pacer Stuart Broad were borderline ruthless with their judgments. Former India fielding coach R Sridhar slammed their judgment, reiterating that fielding in English conditions is no cakewalk. In the first innings, Jaiswal put down Ben Duckett on 15, Ollie Pope on 60 and Harry Brook on 83, and in the second, Duckett again three short of a century.
“Going on the first tour to England and adapting and being a good slip fielder is not an easy task. You can practice all you want, but in the match, it’s quite challenging. The conditions are very cold, so the fingers get very numb. And secondly, the Duke’s ball wobbles a lot as it comes towards you. It’s not easy to catch,” Sridhar told Sportstar.
“In England, sighting is very difficult. The Oval or Leeds are two of the most challenging grounds. Leeds has a slope which runs down from the pavilion side to the Kirkstall Lane end. And it’s very windy, and that messes with your rhythm and depth perception. Even England dropped catches. It’s not always about ability – often, it’s about conditions.”
Watching India put down catches, Gavaskar called their level of fielding ‘not Test class‘, urging the players to head to practice and ditch the optional sessions. Broad, meanwhile, Broad was a tad more critical saying “Crucially, and I mean this in the kindest possible way, they have to take their catches. They can’t lob three or four of them on the floor when you’re trying to get 10 wickets to take a test match.”
Sirdhar defends Jaiswal
To that, Sridhar had a telling reply. “He [Jaiswal] is actually an excellent gully fielder. Make no mistake. He’s had just two bad games – one in Melbourne, one here in Leeds. Otherwise, he’s been exceptional. The catches he took against Bangladesh in Kanpur were outstanding. It’s easy to sit in the commentary box and criticise, but these are challenging conditions, and for many of them, it’s their first experience of this environment,” he told Sportstar.
“It has happened twice. He [Jaiswal] has gone down that road where he dropped one, and then he ended up dropping two-three. It happened in Melbourne before. Now it has happened again. So, this is something he needs to work on. I think he needs to work on his recovery from the error aspect of his fielding,” he told RevSportz separately.
‘Easy to sit in commentary box and decide’: Gavaskar, Broad told to check facts as Yashasvi Jaiswal gets strong backing
While India had plenty of positives galore following their defeat to England in the series opener at Headingley, Leeds, a glaring concern heading into the second match at Birmingham is their performance in the field. India’s ground fielding was still fine, but their catching was – aptly put – abysmal. The Indian fielders combined to drop 8 catches, all at critical junctures of the match. Had they held on to even 50 percent of those, the result could have been a lot different. Astonishingly, four of those eight catches were put down by one individual – Yashasvi Jaiswal. Despite scoring a magnificent century in his first innings batting in England, Jaiswal’s last image from the match would be of him dancing in front of the English crowd after dropping Ben Duckett on 97.
Jaiswal copped flak, but while everyone was analytical with their judgment, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and ex-England pacer Stuart Broad were borderline ruthless with their judgments. Former India fielding coach R Sridhar slammed their judgment, reiterating that fielding in English conditions is no cakewalk. In the first innings, Jaiswal put down Ben Duckett on 15, Ollie Pope on 60 and Harry Brook on 83, and in the second, Duckett again three short of a century.
“Going on the first tour to England and adapting and being a good slip fielder is not an easy task. You can practice all you want, but in the match, it’s quite challenging. The conditions are very cold, so the fingers get very numb. And secondly, the Duke’s ball wobbles a lot as it comes towards you. It’s not easy to catch,” Sridhar told Sportstar.
“In England, sighting is very difficult. The Oval or Leeds are two of the most challenging grounds. Leeds has a slope which runs down from the pavilion side to the Kirkstall Lane end. And it’s very windy, and that messes with your rhythm and depth perception. Even England dropped catches. It’s not always about ability – often, it’s about conditions.”
Watching India put down catches, Gavaskar called their level of fielding ‘not Test class‘, urging the players to head to practice and ditch the optional sessions. Broad, meanwhile, Broad was a tad more critical saying “Crucially, and I mean this in the kindest possible way, they have to take their catches. They can’t lob three or four of them on the floor when you’re trying to get 10 wickets to take a test match.”
Sirdhar defends Jaiswal
To that, Sridhar had a telling reply. “He [Jaiswal] is actually an excellent gully fielder. Make no mistake. He’s had just two bad games – one in Melbourne, one here in Leeds. Otherwise, he’s been exceptional. The catches he took against Bangladesh in Kanpur were outstanding. It’s easy to sit in the commentary box and criticise, but these are challenging conditions, and for many of them, it’s their first experience of this environment,” he told Sportstar.
“It has happened twice. He [Jaiswal] has gone down that road where he dropped one, and then he ended up dropping two-three. It happened in Melbourne before. Now it has happened again. So, this is something he needs to work on. I think he needs to work on his recovery from the error aspect of his fielding,” he told RevSportz separately.
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