India's fielding coach, R. Sridhar, has come into the spotlight, given India's poor returns in terms of fielding of late, Cricbuzz reports.
"The West Indies series at home (December 2019) was somewhere we really dropped. We were average, to say the least. From then on, we are trying to get better," Sridhar said on Friday (February 7), adding that India's record before the series has been exceptional. "We have lived up to the standards in the World Cup or even in the build-up to the World Cup in the last couple of years."
"That's the nature of the current schedule, we have to take it. We hardly had a session during the entire T20 schedule. We do have time before the game starts and that's where we do some groundwork even if there is no practice session." Sridhar further stressed on the importance of video analysis and the provision of relevant information to the players, but the obligation of the players to become independent thinkers to sharpen their skills.
"We do have a look at the videos and see what led to an error. It need not always be a technical error every time there is a fumble or a dropped catch. It could be a tactical position error or the mind not being in the right place. Our job is to try and give them all the information and give them the options. It is up to the player to use the best option that he can to make him perform the best."
"If you are talking about Manish, he took a chance. He had to do it, come on, we needed a wicket at that time." said Sridhar, justifying Pandey's throw at Latham's end, with India desperately trying to break the partnership between him, and Ross Taylor, with 126 required off 15 overs. "You can bargain four runs for a wicket and it was the best player who was there at that time. These things happen, you can't look too deep into that.
The thing is, New Zealand is definitely a difficult high-catching country. Having said that, it's not an excuse; that catch (Kuldeep's chance of Taylor) should have been taken."
"In a T20 game, each fielder has to be his own captain. He need not wait for the captain to move him or the bowler to move him in a certain direction or to a certain position. We try and tell them to think ahead of the game; you as a fielder captain yourself, see which way the breeze is, which way the batsman's tendencies to hit are, what's the bowler's plan and position (yourself) accordingly." said Sridhar.
"We empower the fielders so that they can become their own captain and take decisions on their own because the captain has got too much on his plate at certain times."
"We are having a down(ward) curve since the West Indies series at home. It may not be too much technical at all. It could be a 'fatigue' thing, it could be a 'lack of fitness' thing. There are a lot of things we need to address," said Sridhar, laying out the possible reasons for the falling standards.
"We will actually have dialogues with the player and see what is more important for the player, but we will be lying to ourselves if we say no, they are fresh as a daisy every time they go on to the park. They are not, because they are travelling and playing games. But the current fitness levels of this team is really good, so that in turn helps to recover from the workload and fatigue quickly and be fit on the park."
"If you see Virat's run out of Nicholls the other day, it was purely speed which gave him the edge over the batter. It is about preparing himself off the field mentally and physically to go there and to be able to do what you really want to do. The kind of intensity he brings on to the field, I always say to the younger boys who come, he is a readymade template for you to copy."
"We have played a couple of T20 games here (at Eden Park), so most of the bowlers are aware of the dimensions of this ground. Now the bowlers have a basic idea of the kind of lengths. The lengths will vary when the straights are so small. You have to force the batsman to hit into the bigger areas of the park."
"When we come across a situation like this, we embrace it. We want these situations, the leadership group of this team wants to be in a tough situation. It will try and bring the best out of you, it's always good to be under pressure. It brings the best out of our players," said Sridhar.
