File image of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli together.© AFP
After two consecutive wins, 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 from the Proteas limited the Rohit Sharma-led side to 133/9 in 20 overs. Later, India showed intent with the ball when Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami took early wickets, but South Africa chased the goal in 19.4 overs. In that exciting encounter, Team India had an unforgettable outing in terms of their fielding. First, Virat Kohli dropped a nanny who gave Aiden Markram a reprieve. It was followed by skipper Rohit who missed a run-out opportunity against the same batter.
India received a lot of flak from the fans and cricket experts for their bleak fieldwork against South Africa. Former India player Ajay Jadeja also expressed his views on the matter, stating that Team India stopped focusing on their fielding after the end of Virat Kohli’s tenure as captain.
“I think the Asian teams don’t care about fielding. The last time I heard about the importance of fielding was when Virat Kohli became the captain of Team India. He had made the decision to only include those players who are good fielders. longer the captain and coach have also changed. The new captain is not worried about fielding. He is more concerned about batting and bowling. So the current Team India you have is not very athletic,” Jadeja said in a video on Cricbuzz.
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Jadeja further criticized Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami’s field abilities. “Who are the outfield players we have? We have Ashwin and Shami. In terms of bowling these two are great, but you can’t expect a good field from them. When you pick a team you know what you want and I think Team India has not paid much attention to their fielding,” he said.
India then takes on Bangladesh in their Super 12 Group 2 clash, Wednesday at Adelaide Oval.
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