Indian cricket team: Slouches on the field no more

“Field Marshals” is the word that comes to my mind when I watch Team India field. This question might strike the minds of many readers: “What is a defence-related post doing in a sports column?”. But this word suits the current standard of fielding displayed by the “Men in Blue”. The current fielding displayed by Team India has the capability of defending even meagre scores.

The quality of Indian fielders has improved greatly since my childhood days. Those were the days when Team India solely depended on its batting and bowling line up, ignoring the fielding department. ‘Slouchy’ was the adjective often attributed to the way Team India fielded. The fielding department was just average with the exceptions of Robin Singh, Kaif etc. who were phenomenal on field. In such a scenario, watching players like Jonty Rhodes and Michael Bevan not only enthralled the heart but also created hopes of seeing a better fielding Team India.

Now the little hope seems to have been fulfilled, with Team India sometimes fielding better than even the Aussies and the Proteas. The intensity with which the young Indian bunch is fielding in the Champions Trophy clearly signifies the above statement. Half chances are being taken with an excellent display of acrobatics, stumps are being hit, balls are being chased down and most importantly, the throws are accurate. These were once the qualities only reserved for the Australian and South Africans, but these are now also seen in the Indian side.

The credit for the improvement in the fielding department goes to the fielding coach, Trevor Penny. The well-drilled Team India, under the care and assistance of Coach Trevor, deprives the opposition of the chance of strike rotation. Also, stunningly brilliant fielding by the youngsters like Virat Kohli, RG Sharma, S Raina, Ashwin and the so-called Sir Jadeja gives Team India an edge over the others. Skipper MS Dhoni has also contributed to the on-field development by selecting the right fielders in the right areas.

Ravindra Jadeja at point, Virat Kohli at covers and Rohit Sharma at square leg are displaying brilliant field work in their respective positions; their positions are swapped as per the game’s requirement, like Jadeja taking over from Kohli at point in non-power play overs, and Rohit replacing him if the batsman is left-handed. The logic being quite simple, Jadeja is left-handed and Rohit has a powerful right arm, and hence can sieve shots that are hit finer to point. Whereas Rohit is simply elegant, Jadeja is like a blur of whirring arms and legs. Thus, the ring of fielders deprives the opposition of any chance of rotating the strike, resulting in added pressure to the batting side.

Kohli meanwhile guards the arc between the mid-off and the covers, picking and accurately throwing the ball with unparalleled enthusiasm. In case his throw strays, Dinesh Karthik’s palms latch onto them at mid-wicket.

Ashwin guards the 1st slip during the first batting power play overs and Raina guards the 2nd slip. With these duos in the slips, the ball finds difficulty to make its way through the slips. The latest example being the difficult catches of the Sri Lankan opener Perera and Sangakkara taken at second slip by Suresh Raina in the semi-final.

Apart from this young bunch of players who have proved a lot on-field, the performance of the Indian seamers can’t be ignored. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma have also performed superbly on-field in the English conditions.

With the batting line-up in complete form and the fielding at its all time best, MS Dhoni would be looking forward to adding another feather to his cap in the form of the ICC Champions Trophy.