Sunil Gavaskar urges India to drop poor fielders after Zimbabwe series

Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar has asked the Indian selectors to drop players who are not fielding well. He made the statement after India’s 3-0 T20I series win over Zimbabwe, where the team dropped many catches and made several mistakes on the field.

Sunil Gavaskar says no captain should hide poor fielders

Although India won all three matches, their fielding was not good. The team also made similar mistakes in the recent white-ball series against Ireland and England, which affected their performances.

Speaking about India’s fielding, Gavaskar said players who keep making mistakes on the field should not be picked. He believes good fielding is just as important as batting and bowling.

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“It’s mandatory that if a player is an average fielder, he has to be shown the door. There is simply no way a captain has to hide three or four players, hoping the ball won’t go anywhere near them.”

Sunil Gavaskar asks India batters to play smart cricket instead of chasing big shots

Sunil Gavaskar was also not happy with India’s batting in the recent white-ball series against England. He said the batters did not make good decisions during important moments and failed to play according to the match situation.

England’s batters looked more confident and won six of the seven completed matches in the T20I and ODI series. Before that, India also had a tough time against Ireland, as they could not chase targets of 183 and 155 in the two-match T20I series.

“Shot selection is very important and here the batter has to rein in his ego and not try to live up to an image, but play the ball on its merits. Yes, in the ultra-short format, the T20, it is not easy to do so as big shots are needed virtually every other delivery. But it is different in the ODI format, where there is time for a short period of settling down before the power shots are unfurled,” Gavaskar said.

“It’s necessary to play smart cricket. So, figure out the bowler who doesn’t need to be counter-attacked. Then target the bowlers against whom you can make up for the quiet over from the better bowler. No team in the world has five top bowlers, and there will always be eight to 12 overs in a T20 game where the runs can be looted. Similarly, in the 50-over format, a little patience won’t hurt even if the team is chasing a big score like 380-plusm,” he added.