Ajay Jadeja: “Team India has not given much attention to their fielding.”

The shoddy fielding by Team India against South Africa in their previous ICC T20 World Cup 2022 league encounter in Brisbane was a major factor in their first defeat in the competition. Men in Blue paid the price because Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, two of the team’s key fielders, were not at their finest on the field. After the game, skipper Rohit expressed disappointment with the fielding performance.

“We were sloppy in the field. We want to set a high standard in that department. We’re not proud of it,” Rohit said during the post-match presentation. “We were just not good enough. The last two games, we were pretty good on the field. We couldn’t hold our chances, we missed a few run-outs. We need to keep our heads high and learn from this game,” a critical Rohit added further.

Because of the nature of the T20 format, it is a game of margins, and fielding makes a significant impact. It is apparent that Team India is not the greatest in this area, behind some of the world’s strongest teams.

Former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja claims that Rohit has prioritised fielding and that there has been a noticeable improvement since Virat was captain of the squad. Jadeja used the presence of Ashwin and Shami in the lineup to justify why fielding was not prioritised during the selection process.

“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,” said Jadeja to reporters.

Jadeja went on to criticise Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami’s fielding performances “What are our fielders’ names? We’ve got Ashwin and Shami. These two are excellent bowlers, but don’t expect them to be strong fielders. When you choose a squad, you know what you want, and I believe Team India has neglected its fielding.”

Despite the setback against South Africa, Team India is in pole position to reach the semi-finals, having won two and lost one of their three matches. Team India will now face Bangladesh in their second group encounter at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday (November 1).