Chris Harris: Would love to help Indian team with their fielding in the future

Chris Harris speaks at an ICC World Cup event

Former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Harris has expressed a desire to become the fielding coach of the Indian cricket team in the future. The 45-year-old, who represented the Blackcaps in 250 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 23 Tests between 1990 and 2004, said that he would love to help the Men in Blue out with their fielding as he feels that is one area where there is still scope for improvement.

Harris wants to become a fielding coach

"I would certainly love to come over here and help coach the Indian side in their fielding because I think it's probably one area that India could see some improvement.

"Their batting is obviously quality and they have got some quality bowlers. We have seen that they can bat, they can bowl, but I think they can always work on their fielding," Harris told Cricketnext in an exclusive interview.

Harris added that he has done a bit of coaching in the past which would count for something if he’s considered for the role.

"I've done a little bit of coaching. I don't know if it's a dream, but I would certainly love to get involved with an international side in a fielding capacity.

"There are so many great coaches now and most of the good coaches want to be head coach or bowling coach or batting coach. But I would love to have an opportunity to take one of the sides and work on fielding,” he said.

"Good fielding is about attitude"

The former left-handed batsman also believes that fielding standards have been on a constant rise as has been evident from the ongoing 2015 World Cup and added that in order to be a good fielder, one needed to have the right attitude and crucially, hold on to catches that come their way.

"It's improving all the time, and we've seen that in this World Cup. There has been some brilliant fielding, but I think there are always those little things that you can do.

"To me, good fielding is about attitude, it's about wanting to be a good fielder. There are a lot of cricketers out there who hate fielding. So if you hate fielding, it's very hard to be good at something you don't like. So you try to encourage people to enjoy it more and realise how important fielding is. There's an old cliche in cricket: catches win matches. And I firmly believe in that,” the former Indian Cricket League (ICL) player said.

Harris also wishes for an India-New Zealand final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on March 29.

“India vs New Zealand, what a great final that would be. Hopefully, the reigning champions against the new champions,” he said.