New Delhi [India], September 27 (ANI): Former leg-spinner Amit Mishra didn’t mince his words while scrutinising India’s harrowing catching display at the ongoing Asia Cup, cautioning the team to fine-tune its skills before taking on arch-rival Pakistan in the final at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
Indian players have struggled to sight the ball under Dubai’s light. India has spilled as many as 12 catching opportunities before locking horns with Sri Lanka in the final Super Fours contest on Friday. Before the game, skipper Suryakumar Yadav and mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy downplayed India’s fielding woes.
While Suryakumar classified it as a “part of the game”, Chakaravarthy gave a much deeper insight into the factor that has been troubling the Indian players. While speaking to the reporters, Chakaravarthy said, “You can’t give excuses at this level. We should be taking these catches, but definitely, if you ask me about rings of fire, it comes in the eye, something. It is a little bit of disturbance.”
Mishra wasn’t pleased with the explanation offered by the Indian players and urged head coach Gautam Gambhir to focus on the recurring issue. The 42-year-old even advised the fielding coach, T Dilip, to conduct a session with players and help them adjust to the light.
“You should practice. What is the fielding coach doing? He should make them practice taking catches under the light. You are professional cricketers. You have to work hard and adjust to it. I agree that one or two dropped catches can happen in a match. But it has been happening consistently. I think Gautam Gambhir needs to focus on fielding,” Mishra said while speaking exclusively to ANI.
“In T20Is, dropping one catch can prove costly, and the Indian team is dropping three to four catches. They need to focus on fielding. There should be no margin of error in the final against Pakistan. Even if there is a problem, you should find a solution to it,” he added.
The Sunday fixture will be the third time India battles it out against Pakistan. In the last two encounters, India effortlessly gunned down the target set by Pakistan and will hope to continue the pattern in the title-deciding clash.
India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.
Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Afridi, Sufyan Moqim. (ANI)
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