Australia women’s team captain Alyssa Healy gave her opinion on India’s fielding woes against England in the 1st Test at Leeds where the visitors failed to defend 371 runs in the 4th innings, leading to th hosts going 1-0 up in the series. The Indians were guilty of dropping some crucial catches in the match with Yashasvi Jaiswal coming under the most flak due to his nightmare fielding performance.
In the first innings, Ollie Pope tried to steer Bumrah through the cordon, but got a thick edge which Jaiswal dropped in the cordon, the ball hitting the wrists. Pope went on to make 106. He would next drop Harry Brook in the same innings. As Brook tried to guide Bumrah through the slip cordon, all that he managed was an edge which went in the direction of Jaiswal at fourth slip. But the Indian opener fluffed a simple chance, handing Brook another life.
In the second innings, Mohammed Siraj delivered a short ball with fielders lined-up on the leg-side boundary. Jaiswal ran in, covered the ground and got both hands to the ball, but couldn’t hold on to it as Siraj looked totally frustrated. Duckett went on to make a match-winning 149.
“Nitish Ready is coming back into the team and is gonna go straight into the cordon and Jaiswal’s already been moved out of there just from what people are watching the practice sessions are looking like. So, they’re already trying to make those changes and look at ways that they could be better,” Healy said on the LiSTNR Sport podcast.
“I reckon he’s a bit of a a makeshift gully. I don’t think he needs to be at gully. It’s a bad place to feel. Put your Jadeja or someone there. Put your best fielder in gully or your biggest guy like Cam Green. Yeah, because they can swallow it,” she added.
Even India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate had said that India will give Jaiswal a break from fielding at gully during the ongoing 2nd Test match between India and England at Edgbaston.
“We always want depth in the catching department. In England, you’re always going to have four catches at some stage in the game. Yashasvi has been a very good catcher for us. We want to manage his confidence. There’s also an argument for the short-leg, you know, being a very important position, particularly if you are going to play two spinners. Maybe just give Yashasvi a break from catching at gully. His hands are quite sore. We want to get his confidence back up,” Doeschate had said a couple of days before the match.
