With an exhaustive Super Fours stage culminating with a gruelling Super-Over finish, an in-form India will aim to make a quick turnaround in a day’s break when they face arch-rivals Pakistan for the third time in a fortnight during the Asia Cup 2025 final in Dubai on Sunday.
While the players have put in impressive performances with bat and ball for the Men in Blue, Suryakumar Yadav’s side has been sloppy on the field with a slew of catches being dropped throughout their campaign. Ahead of their final Super 4s match, India had spilt 12 catches in the tournament, their 67.5 percent catching efficiency ranking only better than Hong Kong (52.7) in the eight-team tournament this year.
‘Gambhir needs to focus on fielding’
Former India leg-spinner Amit Mishra did not mince words when he questioned the Indian team management and fielding coach T. Dilip for the lacklustre fielding display. “You should practice. What is the fielding coach doing? He should make them practice taking catches under the light. You are professional cricketers. You have to work hard and adjust to it. I agree that one or two dropped catches can happen in a match. But it has been happening consistently. I think Gautam Gambhir needs to focus on fielding,” Mishra said in an interaction with ANI.
“In T20Is, dropping one catch can prove costly, and the Indian team is dropping three to four catches. They need to focus on fielding. There should be no margin of error in the final against Pakistan. Even if there is a problem, you should find a solution to it,” he added.
Dubai’s ‘Ring of Fire’ a disturbance?
While he was not searching for a satisfactory answer to bail his team out, India spinner Varun Chakaravarthy recently pointed the Dubai International Stadium’s ‘Ring of Fire’ floodlight system wound around the roof as a hindrance to the fielders’ judgment in taking high catches.
“You can’t give excuses at this level. As a team, we have to definitely start catching those because we will be qualifying for the finals. We should be taking these catches, but definitely, if you ask me about rings of fire, it comes in the eye, something. It is a little bit of disturbance,” Chakravarthy had told reporters after India’s win over Bangladesh.
The post‘What is the fielding coach doing?’: Veteran bowler slams India team management for dropped catches in Asia Cup 2025 | Cricket News appeared first on Indian Express
Add Cricem As your Preferred Source on Google
Follow the latest on Footem Telegram Channel