File image of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli together.© AFP
After two consecutive victories, Team India lost to South Africa by five wickets in their Super 12 Group 2 clash in the ongoing T20 World Cup. An impressive bowling performance by the Proteas restricted the Rohit Sharma-led side at 133/9 in 20 overs. Later, India showed intent with the ball as Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami took early wickets but South Africa chased down the target in 19.4 overs. In that thrilling encounter, Team India had a forgettable outing in terms of their fielding. First, Virat Kohli dropped a sitter which gave Aiden Markram a reprieve. It was followed by skipper Rohit missing a run-out chance against the same batter.
India received a lot of flak from the fans and cricket experts for their dismal fielding against South Africa. Former India player Ajay Jadeja also expressed his opinion on the same and stated that Team India has stopped focusing on their fielding after the end of Virat Kohli’s tenure as captain.
“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 in a video posted on Cricbuzz.
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Jadeja further criticised Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami’s fielding capabilities. “Who are the fielders we have? We have Ashwin and Shami. In terms of bowling, these two are great but you can’t expect good fielding from them. When you pick a team, you know what you want and I think Team India has not given much attention to their fielding,” he said.
India will next face Bangladesh in their Super 12 Group 2 clash, at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.
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