After Sunil Gavaskar Criticises Yashasvi Jaiswal's Fielding, Comes "Easy To Sit And Criticise" Retort From Ex-Coach
Yashasvi Jaiswal, despite scoring a ton for India vs England in the 1st Test in Leeds, got quite a lot of flak due to his fielding follies. During the entire Test, India dropped as many as eight catching opportunities, which tipped the scales in England's favour. The eight dropped chances cost India a whopping 250 runs, a valuable tally that held the power to change the visitors' fate. Yashasvi Jaiswal was the prime offender with four dropped chances, followed by other top fielders.
Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was not pleased with the fielding of Team India. "I don't think there will be any medal given. T Dillip gives those after a match. This is what was really very, very disappointing. Yashasvi Jaiswal is a very good fielder but he hasn't been able to hold on to anything this time," Sunil Gavaskar, who was commentating, said.
Stuart Broad was also critical. "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," he said.
However, former India fielding coach R Sridhar has come in defence of Yashasvi Jaiswal. 'He's 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.
Sridhar, however, said that India's ground fielding level was not good at all.
'The standard of ground fielding which is exhibited is not acceptable. Unlike catching, ground fielding is something which is totally in your control. You should know which ball to put your body behind, which ball to attack, which ball to play safe,' he said.
'You know when to pick up the right cues, you know, based on the breeze. Wind is another big factor. As the television visuals showed, Leeds was extremely blustery and cold when we were fielding. But even then, Karun Nair took two brilliant catches, and so did KL Rahul.'
The former coach urged everyone to show some patience with the Indian cricket team.
'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," he said.
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