Our fielding was biggest takeaway from South Africa tour, says Biju George
India’s women cricket team fielding coach, Biju George believes that their fielding was the biggest takeaway from the recently concluded South Africa tour. The 53-year-old coach further highlighted that the eves are now bravely welcoming the ball coming to them regardless of how hard it is hit.
When a young Jemimah Rodrigues plucked a catch out of thin air close to the boundary line in India's final T20I against South Africa, the cricketing fraternity stopped to take notice at the sheer brilliance and timing of the attempt. Over the years, with an emerging pool of talent with new-infused enthusiasm and determination, the India Women side has also improved hugely in their fielding. And George highlighted that journey of the Gen Y side in his interview with TOI.
"Our fielding, in which over the last two-three years we were lacking, has improved and that was the biggest take away from the tour,” said George.
For every leaping catch, diving stops, and sliding saves made by the Indian women, a lot of credit should be given to their fielding coach, who has been with the team since the start of the 2017 World Cup in England.
"The improvement, I would say, is more than 100%. The players are spending one hour of every training session on fielding. Naturally, the differences are there to see. Globally, including men's cricket, on average 1.1 catches are being dropped per game. But if you look at the ODI and T20 series against South Africa, in seven completed matches, we dropped only five. So we have managed to stay way below the global mark for one full series,” Biju added.
The drills for women are no different from that of men and according to the coach, the players are getting there in terms of athleticism.
"Some were not comfortable diving on the field. There is a technique to dive properly and I taught them using a reverse chain mechanism with each step of diving deconstructed from the last. The players understood if I can do this in my 50s, they can easily do it