Several former players, including former India head coach Ravi Shastri, were critical of the team’s fielding during England’s first innings in the ongoing 1st Test in Leeds. The visitors dropped as many as six catches, with Yashasvi Jaiswal shelling four of them. India’s poor fielding allowed England to crawl their way back into the game. The hosts, in response to India’s 471 in the first innings, posted 465, thanks to some poor catching in the outfield from the Indians. Shastri suggested that India will now have to bat smartly in the second innings after allowing England to restoring parity.
“I think India will be disappointed, too. England have pulled things back and this game is now on an even keel. This pitch is still good so England will fancy their chances of chasing and India know they have got to bat the day tomorrow,” said Shastri, as quoted by India Today.
“They have got to get past 300 and put England under pressure. Had they held their catches, they should have had a lead of 150-plus. There is a lot of time left in this Test match and the game is even,” he added.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain, who was also on commentary, echoed Shastri’s sentiments, suggesting that India gave away an extra 100-150 runs due to their poor catching.
“I think India will be a little disappointed. They had a collapse of 7-41 in their innings and the England score should then have been a lot less. That last little session tonight was vital for them in that they didn’t let England back into the game even more,” said Hussain.
Former England pacer Stuart Broad also shared his views on India’s fielding effort, saying that it is completely unacceptable to drop that many catches in a match, let alone a single innings.
“I don’t want to look too far ahead in this Indian batting lineup, but anything over 300 with Jasprit Bumrah in your bowling attack, I think you’d really fancy it. But, crucially, and I mean this in the kindest possible way, they have to take their catches. They can’t lob three or four of them on the floor when you’re trying to get 10 wickets to take a test match,” Broad told JioHotstar.
