India vs West Indies: Yuvraj Singh unimpressed with India’s fielding in the first T20I
India dropped around 3-4 catches and also fumbled on the field on multiple occasions during the match.
India beat the West Indies in a high-scoring first T20I in Hyderabad on Friday as captain Virat Kohli missed his maiden ton in the format by a whisker. Having decided to bowl first after winning the toss, India let the Caribbeans post a total of 207 in 20 overs. It then took a heroic effort from Kohli (94 not out in 50 balls) and KL Rahul (62 in 40 balls) to win it for the hosts in the penultimate over. The Indian skipper also won the man of the match award.
However, it was not a great day for the Indian bowlers. Carribean batters Evin Lewis (40 off 17), Shimron Hetmyer (56 off 41), captain Kieron Pollard (37 off 19) and Jason Holder (24 not out off 9) took them to the cleaners to post a competitive total that was dwarfed later by their Indian counterparts.
But what let the Indian side down more was the fielding. While Washington Sundar dropped a couple of easy chances, even Virat Kohli fumbled to concede a boundary. Rohit Sharma too missed a catch in the deep even as Deepak Chahar couldn’t bend down in time to stop the ball from going to the boundary. This irked former India batsman Yuvraj Singh who was one of the best in the fielding department during his playing days.
“Too much cricket?”- Asks Yuvraj
The soon-to-turn-38 Yuvraj Singh, who called it quits from international cricket, posted a tweet after the first half of the match, saying, “India very poor on the field today!” He said the young guns were reacting a bit late on the ball and suspected that playing too much cricket is taking a toll on them.
Yuvraj Singh, who famously hit six sixes in one over during the 2007 World T20, was among those who had revolutionized India’s fielding with the likes of Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina. It was Yuvraj’s legacy that has been carried forward by players like Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit, Manish Pandey and others.
Yuvraj, who has been a member of two World Cup-winning squads in 2007 and 2011, played 58 T20Is for the country in which he scored eight fifties and had a strike rate of close to 140. India will take on the West Indies in the second match in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday and look to seal the series.
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