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India vs South Africa | R Sridhar admits India's fielding performance was below par in 4th ODI

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India’s fielding coach R Sridhar has admitted that in the last ODI against South Africa, the visitors failed to deliver a good performance on the fielding front which resulted in their first ODI of the series. He has assured that they work on the technical aspect of fielding as much as they can.

The 4th ODI of the series was played in Johannesburg where India batted first and got to a total of 289 runs in the allotted 50 overs. In the rain-affected match, the hosts got a revised target of 202 runs in 28 overs while defending the target. The Indian players, contrary to their usual lofty standards, were bang average on the field on Saturday. For instance, when David Miller was on just six runs, Shreyas Iyer dropped his catch and Miller went on to build the foundation for his side’s win as the hosts kept the hope of levelling the series alive after winning the Pink ODI by five wickets.

"Yes, we were a little below par on the field in the last game. One catch went down, Shreyas Iyer being the brilliant fielder that he is, he made a great attempt. It was not a Grade 1 catch, but it's easy to be harsh on ourselves sometimes, easy to be harsh on our players. It's the easiest thing to do. But if you see, that was a difficult catch,” Sridhar said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

"And in the ground in Johannesburg, the ball snakes a lot and that's what happened to Kuldeep. He was trying to attack and save two, but the ball just snaked away more than he expected. These things happen but we are practicing for them. We've got our players to pay attention to the detail of every minute aspect of every skill, not just fielding. We try and do that every game, and in this game, we'll take into account the wind factor, the size of the ground and make sure we are aware of that when we enter the field."

The Indian cricket team has already targeting the upcoming World Cup for which they won't want to leave any stone unturned whether it is checking the bench strength or giving place to inexperienced players over regulars. The mega cricket event will be held in 2019 in England and Wales and Sridhar believed that challenging situation on the field will help the side to prepare for rain-marred matches and in controlling the wet ball.

"These are things we want should happen more in terms of our preparation. We love to embrace such situations so that even if we make a mistake now, we know how to respond to that same situation the next time around. So these things are good for us. Bowling with a wet ball, a wet outfield, in a reduced game - it's fantastic it happened because we'll learn from every game," Sridhar added.

"Yes, we work on the technical aspect of fielding as much as we can. But like Ravi Shastri and Virat want, we want the eleven best fielders to take the park everytime we get out there. That is the endeavour going into the next 15 months (till the World Cup). But definitely we are one of the better one-day fielding teams in the world, I can vouch for that."

After a below-par performance in Johannesburg, the players worked hard ahead of the fifth ODI of the series in Port Elizabeth which is known as the windy city because of its location which is on the coast of Nelson Mandela Bay. On the match day, it is expected that the clouds will be clear out but the wind can play a crucial factor. However, Sridhar was adamant that the Indian team wil practice for the windy conditions before the game itself.

"Yes, PE is called the windy city isn't it? I read that on Wiki. So yes, definitely we'll take that into consideration. That is something that is important, especially for high balls. You have to keep that into account, it comes under your awareness. No matter where you are fielding on the boundary line, you need to be aware which way the wind is blowing. You also need to be aware of the batsmen's tendencies, the game situation, and accordingly you should be able to prepare in terms of wanting the ball to come to you," Sridhar said.

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