Former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik slammed India’s fielding performance after the first T20I against New Zealand, which the visitors won by four wickets at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch, on Thursday.
India was good in the field in the Powerplay overs but veered off the track after the end of fielding restrictions. Abhishek Sharma dropped a simple catch of Daryl Mitchell when the right-hander was on 16. Prince Yadav, the substitute fielder, was also sloppy in the field and misfielded an easy ball, which went for a boundary.
Furthermore, India was not up to the mark in the field against the West Indies while playing at home.
Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz, “For some time now, it’s been an Achilles heel for India. Because they’ve won a few bilaterals recently, it’s gone unnoticed. But the fielding hasn’t been up to standard, and the onus is on the players to be up to standard when you are representing India in International cricket.”
However, Karthik urged the fans and pundits to cut Indian players some slack as they haven’t got any time to practise amid the hectic schedule.
“We have to cut them some slack too, as there is no time to practice fielding with the number of back-to-back matches. Between the West Indies series and New Zealand, there would have been one net session, where the players would have focused on their core skills. So where do you have time for fielding? You don’t want to put your body through so much that you end up not being ready for the game. So it’s a catch-22 situation for the fielding coach as well,” said Karthik (via the aforementioned source).
The second T20I between India and New Zealand will be played at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, on Saturday.
