It’s been three days since India lost the first Test to England at Leeds, and you’ve got to admit. The result still stings. India put on almost 800 runs, took a first-innings lead and boasted five centurions, and yet, were the second-best team. Full credit to England, especially for how they batted in the fourth innings on Day 5 of the Headingley Test, but you’ve got to believe that somewhere, India choked on their chances and gift-wrapped the match to Ben Stokes and his Bazballers. What went wrong? We’re pretty sure you’ve done your analysis, but let us rewind some of it for you.
Firstly, the fielding. When you drop eight catches in a match, it’s bound to come back and bite you, and when four of them are from the same fielder – Yashasvi Jaiswal – the woes become even worse. Full marks to India’s batting. Barring Sai Sudharsan, the top five all got hundreds, but the impact just gets soured a tad when the result doesn’t go your way. Fielding, more importantly India’s catching, was India’s big letdown, and Brad Haddin, the former Australia wicketkeeper batter, feels it reflected not only Jaiswal, but captain Shubman Gill’s attitude as well.
“Every great team, no matter what year you’re playing, the one stand out feature they’ve always had is that they’ve been a great fielding team. And I think that is one legacy Gill has start to leave now on this team. He needs an attitude adjustment. If you want to field well and compete the whole time, it’s only attitude. You can do all your technical work off the field and have as many coaches as anyone, but it won’t matter. Even in the IPL this year, the catching was horrible. And that could be a byproduct,” he said on the LiSTNR Sport podcast.
Stressing on the importance of fielding, Haddin went on overdrive, calling fielding as important as batting or bowling. He brought into the discussion the young Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who made headlines for his historic century during the IPL, saying that if the youngster is to make it big, more than anything else, he needs to become a brilliant fielder.
“Take the young kid [Vaibhav Suryavanshi] from Rajasthan for example. Everyone is talking about how well he batted, and it was unbelievable. But if you’re going to be a great player, he’s got to work on his fielding, his presence in the game. The one thing I would say to India is find a way to be the best fielding team in the world because you got the talent everywhere else,” he said.
How about a fielding data point to highlight to severity of dropped catches?
Fielding is where Virat Kohli is a big loss to this Indian team. Take these guys out, who provide you with energy, enthusiasm and the will to work hard, who is driving it? Is it Gill’s job, or even Jaiswal’s, for that matter? Or maybe Ravindra Jadeja, the best fielder in the world? Alyssa Healy, the Aussie great, believes that it may not be a bad idea for the broadcasters to introduce a ‘catches dropped’ data point next to a player’s name. It may not necessarily be to pick on someone but just highlighting how crucial the extra runs are, especially given the context of a Test match.
Lastly, Haddin weighed in on another loose end that cost India the game – their lower order. From 430/3, India slumped to 471 all out in the first innings – 6 for 41 – and from 286/3, stumbled to 364. This isn’t the first time India’s tail has let them down, and when the opposition’s last five batters are scoring more runs than yours, it’s time for the fun and games to stop.
“What hasn’t happened for the first time is India’s batting collapse. There’s a lot of pressure on that top order. If you get through them, they will run through the remaining,” added Haddin.