Former India fielding coach R Sridhar has taken a dig at the commentators for criticising Yashasvi Jaiswal over his dropped catches. The southpaw dropped four catches in ENG vs IND 1st Test in Leeds which turned out to be too costly for the Men in Blue. Sridhar’s remarks come after India were handed a 5-wicket thrashing to go 1-0 up in the series.
“Easy to sit in commentary box…”
Speaking to Sportstar, Sridhar pointed out that Jaiswal was an excellent fielder in the gully and that he had had just two bad games so far. The ex-India fielding coach said that it was easy for commentators to pass scathing remarks, noting that it wasn’t easy to field for someone who hasn’t played in England before.
“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,” Sridhar said.
Jaiswal first dropped Ben Duckett in final delivery of the 5th over of the 1st innings while fielding at gully. His next drop catch came while Jaiswal was fielding at third slip. The fielder attempted to take a catch with both his hands but the ball hit his wrist and pounced out of his hands. Once again, it was Bumrah who was bowling and was robbed of a wicket. Jaiswal dropped two more catches in the 2nd innings as well.
However, the former Indian fielding coach said that the standard of fielding was not unacceptable.
“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,” Sridhar added.
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