Dinesh Karthick and Parthiv Patels fielding errors costly for India
Villanova
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/slvind/content/current/story/364551.html
Sri Lanka v India, 3rd Test, PSS, Colombo, 3rd day
Fielding horrors hurt India
Jamie Alter in Colombo
Late last year, after a five-match ODI series against Pakistan, India's
fielding coach Robin Singh sent a report to the BCCI assessing the
players' fielding skills. The report praised a couple of players'
throwing arms, spoke of poor agility among others and lamented the
concentration and commitment of a few, but there was one common theme to
his observations: the need to improve anticipation and technique.
After another poor day in the field for India. you have to wonder what
has happened since November 2007. At the SSC, where India lost by an
innings and 239 runs, Mahela Jayawardene was dropped by wicketkeeper
Dinesh Karthik on 55 and 93 and Thilan Samaraweera was dropped by Gautam
Gambhir at short leg on 53. Matters weren't much better in Galle, where
Karthik and Gambhir were the culprits again.
Today India refused to learn from their mistakes. Close-in fielders
repeatedly reacted too late or too early, flat-footed rookies and
veterans tripped over balls and failed to reach down in time, Harbhajan
Singh kicked a ball away in frustration only to allow a single, and
Parthiv Patel missed a stumping.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, struck the first blow with a sharp catch off
Virender Sehwag by Thilan Samaraweera at gully; they hammered in the
final nail when Sachin Tendulkar, perhaps wary of three lurking close
catchers, padded up to Ajantha Mendis late in the day. It was in stark
contrast with India's attempt to apply pressure.
Anil Kumble began the day with three short legs, one behind the wicket
and two in front. In the third over of the day Gambhir stood up too
early instead of crouching in anticipation and saw the ball fly past.
Then Karthik reacted too soon and couldn't dive to reach a catch in
time. India cannot expect to win consistently unless half chances are
regularly converted.
Throughout the first session, Prasanna Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara
worked singles past the three short legs, especially between the first
of the forward short legs and the backward short leg. And when Kumble
called his fielders in to try and prevent the single off the last ball
of the 98th over, they were slow to react. Four balls later Pragyan
Ojha, one of three substitutes, made a mess of a stop at backward point
and allowed three, much to Kumble's fury.
India also missed two run-out chances: Sangakkara turned down a single
to sell Prasanna down the river, but Rohit Sharma returned a wayward
throw to Parthiv. Run-outs don't come easier than that. In the 129th
over Mendis pushed the ball towards Sourav Ganguly at mid-on, Parthiv
screamed for the return to the non-striker's end, but Ganguly missed the
stumps with Dammika Prasad out of the frame. Rohit later mis-fielded and
allowed two runs and received a nasty glare from Kumble. To cap it off,
Parthiv missed a regulation stumping down the leg side off Kumble.
To makes things worse the fielders weren't helped by their bowlers. With
six men on the off side, Harbhajan bowled far too many deliveries on the
pads. And kicking the ball, only to concede an overthrow, is
unacceptable behaviour. Zaheer Khan did the same during a one-day match
in England last summer after a catch had gone down off Matt Prior. At
mid-off Kumble could only shake his head.
For the most part of this series Sri Lanka have been disciplined, sharp
and athletic; Tillakaratne Dilshan and Prasanna have epitomised this.
Dilshan has been outstanding, diving around at forward short leg, leg
slip, backward square leg. Even late in the day, three wickets down, he
wasn't complacent, flinging a hand out to stop a single off the pads. In
comparison Gambhir and Karthik, who repeatedly stood up near the bat
instead of crouching low, allowed easy singles.
Prasanna's stock has risen considerably since he established himself in
the Test side during the tour of New Zealand in 2006-07. In Brisbane
last year he pulled off two terrific stumpings to dismiss Ricky Ponting
and Phil Jaques, followed it up by an acrobatic left-handed stunner to
get Michael Clarke in Hobart. The good work continued against England
and in this series he has maintained those high standards, producing
stellar efforts in Colombo and Galle. Karthik and Parthiv have fumbled
regulation takes. Rated India's best wicketkeeper and one of the better
in-fielders, Karthik's display this series has been substandard. Parthiv
has improved marginally since 2004.
Sri Lanka's infielders dived around and cut off singles while India's
struggled. Mendis and Chaminda Vaas, newbie and old hand alike, returned
throws into the wicketkeeper's gloves; Ojha and Ganguly had a hard time
getting it in on one bounce from the outfield. There was no discipline
or ruthlessness from India, who seemed wilted to the extent that they
hardly ever touched the stumps.
Reflexes and anticipation are key elements of a good close-in fielder
and India haven't had one since Aakash Chopra's vigil at the position.
Memories of Chopra's batting may not evoke a smile, but his fielding was
top notch. Among his better ones are, his catch off Anil Kumble's
bowling to get Adam Gilchrist in Bangalore in 2004, his brilliant
one-handed effort to get Abdul Razzaq at Multan in 2004, when Pakistan
trailed by 162 runs, and his catch at forward short leg off a Justin
Langer pull in the Australian series of 2003-04, which was unfortunately
a no-ball.
Chopra created half-chances, and in Tests each counts for a lot. India
soon need to find another such fielder, for they have struggled to
create half-chances and take the ones that were there to be held. The
BCCI may not have assessed the reports; they cannot ignore the ground
realities.
Jamie Alter is a staff writer at Cricinfo
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R. Bharat Rao
>
> Chopra created half-chances, and in Tests each counts for a lot. India
> soon need to find another such fielder, for they have struggled to
> create half-chances and take the ones that were there to be held. The
> BCCI may not have assessed the reports; they cannot ignore the ground
> realities.
India's Test fielding has steadily deteriorated over the last couple
of years. In Australia their ground fielding was appalling but they
held pretty much every catch, and took a couple of blinders -- much
better catching than Australia's. Surely Robin Singh must take some
hit for this.
Bharat
Kavish3352
>
> India's Test fielding has steadily deteriorated over the last couple
> of years.
That is why we should stop this nonsense of playing Test matches. When
we cannot field well in Tests it is sure reason to end Tests.
In 20-20 we were one of the best fielders. In ODI in Australia in
final we won 2-0 and took superb catches. We should play the game that
whole of India enjoys. Not a game that less than 5% enjoys.
The REAL India has won a gold medal today.
- Kavish
Rahul Tyagi
> On Aug 10, 9:16 pm, "R. Bharat Rao" <rao2_nor...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > India's Test fielding has steadily deteriorated over the last couple
> > of years.
>
> That is why we should stop this nonsense of playing Test matches. When
> we cannot field well in Tests it is sure reason to end Tests.
>
> In 20-20 we were one of the best fielders. In ODI in Australia in
> final we won 2-0 and took superb catches. We should play the game that
> whole of India enjoys. Not a game that less than 5% enjoys.
>
> The REAL India has won a gold medal today.
er.... exactly what % of India enjoys watching shooting sports?
-Rahul
>
> - Kavish
>
> In Australia their ground fielding was appalling but they
>
>
>
> > held pretty much every catch, and took a couple of blinders -- much
> > better catching than Australia's. Surely Robin Singh must take some
> > hit for this.
>
> > Bharat- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Kavish3352
>
> er.... exactly what % of India enjoys watching shooting sports?
>
> -Rahul
100% of India is proud of a gold medal by an Indian in Olympics. 100%
of India will be ashamed of an Indian team pretending to be
intellectuals and losing a game that they should not even be playing.
- Kavish
Rahul Tyagi
does that 100% of India (the one that'd be ashamed of an Indian team
pretending to be intellectuals) include any intellectuals? what % of
India do you think are intellectuals? surely more than 0 ?
In any case, what % of India was ashamed of an Indian team pretending
to be intellectuals winning test matches in perth/adelaide/
Johannesberg/Galle etc.. and winning test series in pakistan/england
etc? And what % was proud of the team pretending NOT to be
intellectuals (and playing the game that the common man wants to see)
during World Cup last year?
-Rahul
trying hard to pretend to be intellectual...
Kavish3352
> does that 100% of India (the one that'd be ashamed of an Indian team
> pretending to be intellectuals) include any intellectuals?
100% of India is ashamed of Intellectuals. Everybody is ashamed of
intellectuals.
> what % of
> India do you think are intellectuals? surely more than 0 ?
May be 4 or 5 %. These parasites are denying the common man his game.
96% of India wants ODI and a small minority is asking for TEST
Cricket.
> In any case, what % of India was ashamed of an Indian team pretending
> to be intellectuals winning test matches in perth/adelaide/
> Johannesberg/Galle etc..
All this is meaningless. The 4 - 5% can be proud of such wins. I am
also proud of my high school defeating others schools in Cricket. Such
wins have no meaning. Anyway it is only 4 or 5% that is happy about
such wins.
> And what % was proud of the team pretending NOT to be
> intellectuals (and playing the game that the common man wants to see)
> during World Cup last year?
100% of India wants to see the game that the common wants to see. ODI
and 20-20. Rest of India is a small number of intellectuals and they
can go to hell and leave this game for us.
Let them organize a tournament Intellectuals vs Intellectuals.
> -Rahul
> trying hard to pretend to be intellectual...
You want to be an intellectual? Do not try hard. Just draw a naked
picture of Mata Saraswati. They will call you and give you Padma
Vibhushan for this. The whole Sabha will clap for you. The common man
will want to vomit on you people.
- Kavish
Rahul Tyagi
You keep using that word ("common man"). I do not think it means what
you think it means.
I am sure that while you have been screaming at the top of your voice
that you represent the common man, he has quietly left your side and
is now standing near the other end of the room.
I do hope that the common Indian man has a little more sense that you.
-Rahul
trying to think how the intellectual Rahul Dravid managed to score
10000 runs in the common man's game and how the common man Sehwag
manages to average 50+ in the intellectuals' arena... also trying to
think whether sachin is an intellectual with 16000 ODI runs or a
common man with 12000 test runs....
StraightDrive
"R. Bharat Rao" <rao2_...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:32f7fd52-b9a9-45e4...@d45g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
Dinesh Karthick dropped plenty of catches in the last two years and this
dude
was selected by the coaching genius Sir Greg Chappell in WC2007 team for
his superior fielding abilities.
In fact many rsc'ers justified his selectino in WC2007 for his fielding
abilities.
Kavish3352
> I am sure that while you have been screaming at the top of your voice
What screaming. I am sitting on my couch and posting. Can you hear me
screaming? Even if you lived next door to me in Pasadena you will not
hear any screams.
> that you represent the common man, he has quietly left your side and
> is now standing near the other end of the room.
This is complete nonsense. My wife and two kids are sleeping in our
rooms. Other than the four of us, there is a cat in this house. There
is nobody standing at the other end of the room. You are tully
I tink you must have drunk a lot of beer.
Bade nashein mein bakwas kar rahe ho
Saale ab doodh peke so jaa,
yeh bachon ke khel thodi hai ki ismein tu post kar sake
- Kavish