Close-in catching and its importance on India's tour of Australia 

Too much shuffling of personnel

Slip catching and for that matter, any close in field positions require good reflexes to go with soft hands. Unfortunately not all are blessed with these two and that’s why teams pick the players who are good at both and usually become the slip fielders for their respective teams.

It is not easy if you keep juggling players at slips, especially against pacemen in overseas conditions. After all these Tests in South Africa and England (8 in total), this Indian side is still not sure who will be their first, second and third slip fielders in Tests in Australia.

KL Rahul, who took few catches at second slip should remain a constant at second slip throughout the tour of Australia(hoping that he plays) and Rahane should not move out of slips while the spinners are operating.

Over a period of time, India should identify their best close in catchers and stick with them for a while and that's the only way they can get confident and we can see a lot more going in rather out.

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The people that run Indian cricket including at junior levels might want to closely look into these aspects for the longer term i.e exposure to longer duration matches and the correlation between fitness (muscle building etc) and flexibility and what would be the best mix.

Catches win matches and close in catching in Tests are especially crucial.