Bengaluru: One of cricket’s oldest adages is “catches win matches”. If a team doesn’t hold on to the catches that come their way, then, no matter how well they bat or bowl, defeat can be inevitable, especially against big teams.
The Indian women’s team felt the harsh reality of this cliche in the ongoing T20 World Cup in the United Kingdom, where a whopping 13 dropped catches in five group matches saw them miss out on a semifinal spot. While the fielding lapses didn’t cost them against Pakistan, Bangladesh and West Indies, it hurt them badly against South Africa and heavyweights Australia.
India’s worst show occurred in the back-to-back matches versus South Africa and Bangladesh. Against South Africa – their third group affair, which was almost a must-win game considering six-time champions Australia were favourites to top the table – Radha Yadav dropped Marizanne Kapp twice, and both at long-on. This was after Nandani Sharma had grassed a straightforward chance when the batter was on 9. South Africa were already in trouble at 25/2 while chasing 159, and had Radha held on to the offers, the result could have been different. Kapp, one of the most dangerous batters in the world, accepted the gift gleefully to smash a 45-ball 81 to all but secure the last-four ticket for the Proteas.
The virus struck India again four days later versus Bangladesh where they dropped four catches in the opening five overs. The cameras panned on coach Amol Muzumdar during the horror phase, and the disappointment was clearly visible on the Mumbaikar’s face. Well, how does one explain such astonishing lapses, that too at the elite level in a showpiece tournament? “If I have to pinpoint certain things in the entire tournament, I think we really need to think about our bowling and our fielding,” was Muzumdar’s blunt assessment after India’s defeat to Australia in the last group game.
Not just dropped catches, but the Indian women were found wanting in ground fielding too. Barring a few players, most of them were slow to react to the balls coming towards them, lacked speed around the boundary lines, often erred in judging the angles, and their throws back to the keeper weren’t consistently strong enough.
In modern-day cricket, especially T20s where the margin for error is small and every saved run is priceless, fielding has become as important a discipline as batting and bowling. Remember former captain MS Dhoni insisting on younger players – read better fielders – be brought in place of ageing stars in the one-day squad ahead of the 2011 World Cup. His theory was that better fielders would save at least 15-20 runs, and that would make a significant impact in the end result.
While India women have made significant improvements in batting and bowling, with Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur becoming household names and the ODI World Cup triumph last year showing the team now certainly belongs to the elite, there’s no hiding from the fact that they are still in the development stage when it comes to fielding.
Former India player Poonam Yadav, who now regularly calls the game as a Hindi commentator, feels the lack of fitness is the main problem behind poor ground fielding and catching. “I can’t say we are bad based on one tournament, but it’s true we weren’t up to the mark in fielding. We weren’t the best fielding side anyways, but in the World Cup, we have taken several steps backwards. Yes, even big teams like Australia drop catches, but some of the catches we dropped weren’t pretty to look at. Radha Yadav, one of India’s best fielders, dropping catches, made it look even worse,” Poonam told DHoS.
“I think the main concern has been fitness, or the lack of it. We played five matches in a fortnight, and at the end of it, you could sense how stretched India were. Fitness and fielding are both deeply connected. As Indians, we tend to focus on skills like batting and bowling rather than fielding or fitness. So while we’ve come a long way in batting and bowling, we are yet to reach the elite level in fielding or fitness.”
Another former India player, speaking on condition of anonymity, said India women need someone strong to drive home the message that fitness and fielding are non-negotiable. “Even the men’s team struggled for long in fielding. But then you had captains like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli who kept raising the bar on these two aspects. Something similar needs to happen in women’s cricket too. We are the ODI world champions, and if we wish to be a consistently dominant force across formats, then someone has to crack the whip on fielding and fitness. It has to start at the top and slowly percolate to age groups. It will take time, but India will look a complete force when it’s done.”
Former Indian men’s team strength and conditioning coach Ramji Srinivasan reckons a proper fitness programme catering to women is the need of the hour. “Only in the last 4-5 years has the importance of fitness being given to women’s cricket. So, obviously, the results are going to take time. Until then, it was skill-dominant. What the women need now is a methodical programme starting from the senior level to state sides and then age-group. Anything done drastically could result in injuries because many of them haven’t taken that much load in their lives.
“Also, Indian women are genetically different as compared to Australian, European or African counterparts. I understand the BCCI has been doing a lot for the development of women’s cricket and they now have access to the best of facilities and nutrition. Of course, start at the senior level with the youngsters but then emphasise on the importance of fitness at the age-group level. Make sure fitness and fielding are as integral as batting or bowling. The results will follow them automatically. Also, remember, cricket, unlike many other team sports like football, hockey, rugby, basketball, etc., is very different. We need to be cricket fit and programmes must be catered to that.”
The World Cup is an eye opener for the women’s team on the importance of fitness and fielding. If the lessons can be learnt, it’ll serve them good.