Fielding lapses can hurt India later, feels Geoffrey Boycott

India delivered a near perfect performance against their long-time rivals Pakistan on Sunday at Edgbaston. Pakistan had no answer to India’s intimidating performance with both bat and ball. India started slowly with the bat but made up for it later in the innings. The only area they could match up with India was their abysmal fielding.

When Kohli and Yuvraj had the tough task of getting quick runs in the last 10 overs, both batsmen were helped by Pakistani fielders as they were dropped once each. Interestingly, Kohli was dropped once before too in the innings. Both batsmen made them pay as they were relentless during the end overs.

Indian fielding shoddy too

India too were sloppy in their fielding when they came out to defend their target. One of their best fielders, Hardik Pandya, missed a run out chance early in the innings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar dropped a fairly regulation chance of Azhar Ali in the 14th over. There were a few more errors conceded by the Indians as the game went on though there were moments of brilliance too. Ravindra Jadeja got Malik run out from a one-handed pick-up and hit the stumps directly from point.

Former English legend, Geoffrey Boycott, was of the opinion that such a shoddy fielding performance at a crucial juncture of a knockout game might hurt India later in the tournament.

“The catching and ground fielding varied from the sublime to the ridiculous, and both sides were equally guilty, but India batted and bowled very well. All they need to work on are their ground fielding and catching. They have the likes of the wonderfully athletic Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, but there are a  couple of camels on the field, and that may become a problem in tight matches, where a run given away, or a dropped catch, could prove priceless,” wrote the 76-year-old for the Times Group.

India win despite fielding lapses

Because Pakistan are not the same side they used to be, India got away with their below par fielding effort on the day. They have some great fielders in the side and are hailed as one of the best fielding sides in the world at the moment.

India will be happy with their performance otherwise. Their bowlers stuck to their task in defence of 289 from 41 overs and made sure that there was no fight from Pakistan at all. The men in green were all out in the 34th over for 164 runs, handing India an easy 124-run win.