Former India fielding coach R Sridhar has said that even though Yashasvi Jaiswal has had two bad games in terms of fielding, in the Melbourne Test in December and Leeds this week, it is easy to sit in the commentary box and criticise while not knowing how tough fielding conditions can be in certain cases.
Jaiswal marked his first outing on English soil with a hundred in the first innings, but had a forgettable set of days after that.
Jaiswal dropped Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in the initial stages of the innings off ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah鈥檚 bowling.
Apart from Jaiswal, the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and vice-captain Rishabh Pant dropped catches in important moments of the match, marking the Indian team鈥檚 worst fielding display in recent times.
鈥淗e鈥檚 an excellent gully fielder. Make no mistake. He鈥檚 had just two bad games, one in Melbourne, one here in Leeds. Otherwise, he鈥檚 been exceptional. The catches he took against Bangladesh in Kanpur were outstanding,鈥 Sridhar said while speaking to Sportstar.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to sit in the commentary box and criticise, but these are challenging conditions and for many of them, it鈥檚 their first experience of this environment,鈥 Sridhar added.
All three of Duckett, Pope and Harry Brook capitalised on their second lives to be top-scorers for England in the first innings.
But besides Jaiswal鈥檚 four drops, there were occasional misfields, most importantly, one by Shardul Thakur at mid-off.
鈥淭he standard of ground fielding which is exhibited is not acceptable. Unlike catching, ground fielding is something which is totally in your control. You should know which ball to put your body behind, which ball to attack, which ball to play safe,鈥 Sridhar said.
鈥淵ou know when to pick up the right cues, you know, based on the breeze. Wind is another big factor. As the television visuals showed, Leeds was extremely blustery and cold when we were fielding,鈥 Sridhar added.
Fielding is expected to be one of the areas that the Shubman Gill-led team will be focusing on while preparing for the second Test at Edgbaston.