After a morale-boosting victory over Pakistan and a thumping win over the Netherlands, India were on a high coming into the South Africa Super 12 fixture at the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. However, the ride came to an end as Rohit Sharma's men lost to the Proteas by five wickets.
The South African pace attack, led by the superb Lungi Ngidi, and helped by the fast Perth track, restricted the Indians to 133/9 in 20 overs. In reply, India started strongly as Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami plucked early wickets. But the good work of the bowlers was undone by sloppy fielding. Virat Kohli dropping an easy Aiden Markram catch and Rohit Sharma's missed run-out of the same player, cost India the game.
The team received flak for their fielding, with many experts citing that Rohit Sharma's team is not concentrating on their basic fielding techniques. Former India player Ajay Jadeja, who himself has been a terrific outfielder in his heyday said this on the Indian team, "I think the Asian teams are not giving importance to fielding. Last time I heard about giving importance to fielding was when Virat Kohli became Team India's captain. He had taken a decision of including only those players, who are good fielders. He is no longer the captain and the coach has also changed. The new captain is not bothered about fielding. He is more concerned about batting and bowling. So, the current Team India that you have is not much athletic.”
Here, we list down previous instances wherein misfields and poor fielding were the major culprits in India's downfall:
1) India vs South Africa, 3rd T20I, 2022, Indore:
Same teams, same format, but a different player to drop the catch – Mohammed Siraj. Just as South Africa were motoring along, in the 9th over, Ravichandran Ashwin bowled to Rilee Rossouw and the ball went in the air and straight to the fielder at deep backward square leg. Siraj was stationed at that end, but he failed to gather the ball and it went over the ropes for six. In return, South Africa went on to win the game by 49 runs and Siraj and India were left licking their wounds.
2) India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2022, Dubai:
Team India clashed with their arch-rivals Pakistan in the Super 4 match at the 2022 edition of Asia Cup. Just as the Men In Blue were in the ascendency, during the 18th over, Pakistan's Asif Ali top-edged and skied the ball straight towards Arshdeep Singh at short third man. Singh dropped the sitter. The Pakistan batter then played a match-winning cameo as the Men In Green gained an all-important victory over India. What's more, Arshdeep was trolled on social media as many fans thought it was his mistake that handed Pakistan the game.
3) India’s tour of Australia 2012, Commonwealth Bank Series:
In this case, it was not about one single blunder but the fielding unit overall. Eyebrows were raised when the then skipper MS Dhoni appeared to take a dig at the fielding abilities of the ageing superstars in the team. In a post-match press conference, about the 'senior players' in the team and their fielding abilities, Dhoni said, "It might happen (Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir playing together) but, it would affect our fielding in a big way, it's not only these three, there are quite a few other players who are also slow on the field. If you really add it up, you would have only two or three good fielders.” It resulted in Sehwag getting the axe from the national side. Sehwag's batting average was 21.70 in ODIs in 2012. He was dropped for the England ODIs and would never make a return to the side.
4) India vs West Indies, 2nd ODI, 2013 Vishakhapatnam:
Not often do you relate Yuvraj Singh with dropped catches. Known to have been a phenomenal outfielder, he made an uncharacteristic slip-up when he dropped West Indies' Lendl Simmons. Simmons went on to score 62 in a match-winning partnership with Darren Sammy, as West Indies won the game by two wickets. Yuvraj came under heavy criticism because his batting at that game was turgid too (28 off 49 deliveries). This time, Dhoni was tolerant of the performance. “Leave aside batting and bowling, anyone can drop catches. Let’s not be critical about it," Dhoni said.
