Former India opener Aakash Chopra said India will need two improvements for the 2025 Asia Cup final against Pakistan: better catching and consistency in the batting order.
What constitutes a dropped catch is subjective, but India have dropped over 15 easy chances so far in the tournament. India are not the only side with fielding mistakes, and some have blamed the stadium lights in the UAE, but the errors have not relented even after six matches.
Against Bangladesh, India dropped opener Saif Hassan four times, the highest-ever for them in a T20I game for one batter. Hassan went on to top-score for Bangladesh.
“First, catch better,” Chopra said in a video shared by ESPNcricinfo. “Because if you have dropped a dozen catches in the tournament, it
does not look good. And yes, it’s a cliche ‘catches win matches’. India has still won everything after dropping catches. So it seems like a futile thing that people used to say. But come the final, that’s one thing you want to rectify. You don’t want to drop too many catches,” he added.
Chopra also asked India to reduce the tinkering with the batting order. Apart from openers Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma, every batter has played at more than one position, with the team choosing to experiment in almost every game. For example, Shivam Dube came in at number three in one game, whereas Sanju Samson (an opener before this tournament) was demoted to number eight.
“And secondly, stop toying with your batting order as much as you have already done,” Chopra said. “So just stick to the order that’s making sense. I am sure it’s making sense to them when they send Dube at three and Samson at 8 or Surya doesn’t bat. It must be making sense for people making these decisions but in the end you want Surya at 3, Tilak at 4, Hardik at 5 and then just go on from there. Because you don’t want to find yourself in a position where you say ‘ouch we got this wrong’. If you are going to get it wrong, at least do it the right way,” he added.
