3 Times when Indian cricketers fielded for opposition teams

From the formative days to quite a long time, Indian cricket wasn’t known for it’s fielding. Even as there was no questioning their prowess with the bat and ball, their work in the outfield wasn’t as clean as one would expect it to be. Catches used to go down and sloppy ground-fielding also resulted in bonus runs for the oppositions.

However, the trends seemed to have changed now. With the likes of Robin Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif and many others coming to the fore, the fielding standards have increased.

The sharp works also put pressure on the other team. The levels have risen to such an extent that on some instances, they have been trusted as fielders by their opponent. They haven’t flattered to deceive by any stretch of the imagination.

In the article, let’s take a look at three instances when Indian players fielded for other sides: –

1. Sachin Tendulkar fielding for Pakistan

Back in 1986-87, Pakistan toured India for a five-match Test series, which the visitors won with a 16-run victory in Bangalore. One of the games was against the CCI at the Brabourne Stadium. In the 40th over of the contest a 13-year-old Sachin Tendulkar was named as one of the substitute fielders of the Pakistan team.

It was after Javed Miandad and Abdul Qadir went off the field at lunchtime. Sachin mentioned the same in his autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’. He was deployed at wide long-on by skipper Imran Khan.

The Master Blaster also wrote that he almost took a catch, running 15 metres, to dismiss Kapil Dev. A couple of years ago, Tendulkar made his debut for India against Pakistan. From there, there was no looking back for him and he carved himself among the legends.