Kohli plays down poor fielding show

When a team wins a five-match series 5-0, you would assume most of the bases are covered. But so ordinary were their opponents that some of the mistakes that India committed through the series appeared no more than minor irritants.

The team management, on more than on one occasion, has emphasised on being the best fielding unit in the world. It swears by high fitness levels and has insisted that anyone falling short of those standards would have no business being in the team. In that regard, the team would have been disappointed with the performance on the field in this series.

In the whole series, India dropped two easy catches on the line that went for a four and a six; there were at least four misfields and each of them resulted in a four; on one occasion, there was no back up when Dhoni failed to collect a throw. Besides these major slip-ups, there were a few other instances when the intensity on the field wasn’t up to expected levels.

This may look like nit-picking but when the competition between the two sides narrows down, these mistakes can be crucial. We are talking about almost 10-12 extra runs a match and that can be costly against a stronger team. While admitting that India’s fielding was average in the final ODI here, skipper Virat Kohli said he was happy with the overall fielding show.

“I think the only sort of average day we had on the field was today, apart from that I think our fielding has been sharp in all the four games,” he said. “We wanted to put the best fielding side on the park, and that certainly helped the energy.

“We got a few run-outs, and a few good catches as well, a lot of people stopping those singles in between so that was one thing that we addressed. It was our priority to put out the best possible fielding side on the park. Today wasn’t our best fielding performance but apart from that we have been quite spot on,” he thought.

Another area of concern would be the high number of wides that India bowled during the series. The total count by the end of the fifth match was a staggering 47. Even if you consider there were only 30 wides (if a wide ball goes for four, it’s counted as five wides), it’s not just one extra over per match but extra six runs as well. And when you combine that with lapses on the field, it will be difficult to get away like it happened in the Champions Trophy.

Kohli agreed that bowlers needed to work on that area and rectify it. “Well, if the number is big, the bowlers will want to correct that. That’s something you can’t take for granted. Extras are something you have to control. In the future, if we tighten those up, it will only help us execute things better and squeeze the opposition even more.”