India’s fielding in the recent past has been up there with the best and one person to be credited to their classy fielding is India’s fielding coach, R Sridhar.
Sridhar was all praise for Indian fielders in a press conference and called Umesh Yadav's spectacular flying catch at mid-off to dismiss Corey Anderson in Dharamsala as a 'new benchmark'.
Fast bowlers contributing to the fielding is good
“It’s good to have fast bowlers in the side who are good athletes. Umesh has a very good arm and similarly (Mohammad) Shami is also a good athlete. In the past, we had Mohit (Sharma) who was a very good fielder.”
“Umesh is an exception not only because of yards he put in the field but also because of his catching. That’s probably given him the edge and created new benchmark as far as fast bowler fielders are concerned,” Sridhar said to the media.
Sridhar named Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja as the two players with strong arms in the side and the accuracy of the duo is excellent. Sridhar also went on to state that the quick bowlers had strong arms, recalling the throw from the boundary by Umesh Yadav in Australia in early 2016.
The fielding coach said that limited overs captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, new head coach Anil Kumble and Test skipper Virat Kohli had emphasised on the need for the team to have multi-talented fielders than ones who could be either accurate or powerful.
Sridhar praises Rahane and Kohli’s fielding
He cited the examples of Rahane and Kohli who are much more than just ordinary fielders. In limited overs cricket, curbing the run flow and containing the batsmen is important. This is where fielders of the calibre of Kohli and Rahane come into play.
He also went on to praise players like Manish Pandey and Axar Patel also form terrific replacement fielders in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja.
Sridhar stated that the advantage of having multi-skilled fielders like Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, amongst others, are that they are not only good fielders in the ring but also patrol the boundary line efficiently at the death. The fielding coach was quick to note that this is a huge advantage to have in modern day cricket.
“Once we get into death overs these are the guys who get into the deep as they have safe pair of hands and throw well from the deep. This is what we try and do. Try to develop multi-specialist fielders than specialist fielders. That’s what Virat, MS and Anil want. Team benefits in different phases of the game,” he concluded
Sridhar and Bangar had begun their stints as assistant coaches to previous Team Director, Ravi Shastri. Their contracts were then extended until the end of the World Cup in Australia-New Zealand in 2015. It was further renewed till the end of the World T20 at home in 2016. In September 2016, after Kumble took charge, Sridhar was called back to take the role of fielding coach.
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