Fielding most important to put pressure on opposition, opines Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar voiced his concern over team India’s fielding in the ongoing T20 series, echoing Virat Kohli’s call, as he opined that fielding helps in building pressure over the opposition. Gavaskar believes that defending totals in T20 is more of a general issue and isn’t only that of Indian team.
The ongoing T20 series has been a rollercoaster ride so far, while India chased down their highest total in T20s during the series opener, the Windies staged a brilliant comeback to thrash the hosts by 8 wickets in the second encounter. With all the drama going around former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar pointed out how poor India has been on the field while he stressed that fielding is essential in a T20 fixture.
"I think fielding is the most important thing. You save runs, you put pressure on the opposition. The Indian team has been doing really well. But I think the more they do in the fielding department, take catches and save more runs, the easier it will become for them," Gavaskar told IANS.
India has been setting standards of fielding in international cricket lately but their performance in the ongoing series has been very poor indeed. In their 8-wicket humbling in Thiruvananthapuram, the hosts let down three catches and made numerous misfields which clearly infuriated skipper Virat Kohli who didn’t hold back and lashed back at his players.
"If we field so poorly, no amount of runs will be enough. We were poor with the field in the last two games. We dropped two catches in one over," Kohli said.
With the T20 World Cup around the corner, such a display in the department they were considered to be the strongest in is surely a big concern. Gavaskar opined that while India seems to be doing well on all fronts need to reinforce their fielding.
Talking of India’s failure to defend totals in the shortest format of the game the 70-year-old pointed out that it's more of a general issue and with the dew coming in due to the fixtures being played in the evening is making the job even stiffer.
"In T20 cricket, it's not just India but there are other teams as well who are not good at defending the totals. In the first T20I, even West Indies couldn't defend a total which was in excess of 200. So, it's not just a situation with India, it's generally with most other teams as well. They find it difficult to defend," added Gavaskar.
"Even the fielders find it difficult to field as they don't get a good grip on the ball when they are fielding in the deep and are throwing. So, fielding wise also, it's difficult and that's why I think, teams find it difficult when it comes to defending the totals in T20s."