Catching has not been up to the mark, says India fielding coach

Team India has been on a rampage under Virat Kohli in the recent times. While the team has been ticking all their boxes correctly, there has been one major concern for them. The ongoing series against England has seen the Indian fielders commit quite a few errors on the field. Despite the blemishes, India has managed to take a 3-0 lead coming into the final Test.

However, the fielding coach of Team India, R Sridhar, is a concerned man. He rightly knows that the team needs to pull up their socks in this department. Even in the final Test, Moeen Ali was dropped by KL Rahul on zero. Ali went on to pile on the agony for Indians as England ended day 1 with 284/4.

Speaking about the lapse by Rahul, the fielding coach quoted, “Maybe the timing of the jump could have been better,. But these things happen in cricket. Getting Moeen early would have definitely helped us.” He further reflected back at the fact that the slip fielding has been poor too. Throughout the series, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav created chances right up front but only to get disappointed after seeing the catches dropped.

“Our catching, especially our close catching behind the stumps off pace has not been up to the scratch as far as this series is concerned. We have set high standards over the last few years and this particular series has not been up to the mark,” quoted R Sridhar. He remarked that the team is working hard on getting the right fielders in the right positions close to the bat.

“As far as our catching is concerned, it’s a work in progress. You also know, there have been quite a few injuries going throughout the series and we have been changing personnel in the close cordon all the time,” he added.

He concluded by saying that there is a lot of scope for the fielders to improve. Also, he hopes that the fielders do not get overloaded and end up getting injured. That will be in the benefit of team India.

“So, that is something we have been working on. It’s not an excuse, but that is something we are working on and trying to manage the workloads and the injury part as far as the fingers are concerned and also the practices. We are working hard to improve and I am sure we’ll only get better from here,” he conceded.