Friday, July 4, 2008

Fielding in the Asia Cup

After watching the last couple of matches for India, it looks like it is time to call Ganguly a good fielder. This young and fit team is struggling in the field. I don't think it is due to fatigue, some of the ones they are missing are easy (like the dropped catch by Praveen Kumar or the misfield by Ojha) - and neither of them have played too much cricket to use that excuse.

Some unsolicited advice to Praveen Kumar: when you are bowling poorly and fielding poorly, don't glare and shout at others when they misfield off your bowling.

Here are some possible reasons.

Concur with Arun Lal (gasp!) - leave the frisbees and the baseball gloves during the fielding sessions - use a ball and your hands.

Maybe it is the empty stadium - the chairs are making it difficult to spot the ball :-) Otherwise how do you explain Pakistan and Sri Lanka's less than stellar fielding?

Agree with the commentators once again (sigh..) Chop Ishant's hair, or make him wear a hair band like Bracken or a pony tail. He is already too tall to be a great fielder, but I agree he must be blinded several times while bowling and fielding.

What are your theories and suggestions for the team?


Viswanathan said...

I agree with your suggestions. My only novel suggestion would be to appoint Arun Lal as the fielding coach. (gasp!):)

Anonymous said...

I agree completely - Ishant Sharma's hair is definitely a distraction. How come he is not stirred to do something about it? Fashion over performance.

Anonymous said...

BTW, cool blog this!

straight point said...

just one suggestion...treat balls as endorsement coming your way...

RS said...

ottayan :-)

ks: fashion is important!

sp: cool - that should work.

Anonymous said...

happy to see girls in the cricket.

Cheers from me today.

Yes indeed fielding structure has been shaken recently. The fielding coaches are not able to sleep (Robin Singh).

It can be any reason.

First could be the back-to-back matches.
Hot and humid conditions.
last but finally it may be really the fielding standard going down.

about Ishant...........

It would be good to cut down your hairs otherwise dhoni will cut down your name from the team 11.

Yes indeed how ugly he is in his hair. He bowled quiet fooltosh sometimes and sometimes wideish bouncer (even over my head).

Be good cricker and just cut down your head.

elakaivan said...

Regarding Ishant - while I cant say him getting a haircut will improve his performance, but, cutting down his head might reduce his effectiveness - just a tad :)

Just kidding! I think the fielding performance is more due to the heat than anything else.

RS said...

@elakaivan - that does seem a bit harsh :-)