Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar wants the men’s team management to ‘show the door’ to all ‘average’ fielders in the set-up, saying the team can no longer hide multiple such players.
Fielding was a major issue in India’s recent trips to Ireland, England and Zimbabwe, which saw the team win only four matches and lose eight. In the three-T20I series against Zimbabwe alone, India dropped as many as ten catches.
This comes amid questions surrounding the Indian team’s fielding coach. T Dilip is the designated man for the job but was said to be under pressure after these recent troubles. Meanwhile, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate also specialises in the fielding department but has reportedly not been able to assert himself in the role because
of Dilip’s presence.
“It’s mandatory that if a player is an average fielder, he has to be shown the door. There is simply no way a captain has to hide three or four players, hoping the ball won’t go anywhere near them,” Gavaskar wrote on Sportstar.
Gavaskar said there was no need to ‘panic’ about the team, amid the BCCI’s insistence on organising a review of the tour in August. But he added that the team needed introspection on batting temperament.
“A good, honest reflection on what the shortcomings were and how to overcome them is the need of the hour. Shot selection is very important and here the batter has to rein in his ego and not try to live up to an image, but play the ball on its merits. Yes, in the ultra-short format, the T20, it is not easy to do so as big shots are needed virtually every other delivery. But it is different in the ODI format, where there is time for a short period of settling down before the power shots are unfurled,” he said.
