Indiaโs fielding efforts have worsened since the T20 World Cup 2026. Around 32 catches have been dropped by the Men in Blue across 19 T20Is, which is extremely worrying. These include slips from full-time players, with Tilak Verma and Abhishek Sharma being some of the biggest culprits, having dropped more regularly than others.
In the T20 World Cup, India turned out to be the worst catching side, dropping 14 chances, followed by Sri Lanka (11) and Ireland (10). In their T20I series against Ireland, India dropped six catches in total, making it three missed chances per day, before missing five more in England.ย
The situation further deteriorated in Zimbabwe, where seven catches were dropped, of which five were in the final T20 alone.ย ย
A new fielding coach for the Indian team
Following the poor performance in Ireland and England, fielding coach T Dilip is parting ways with the national team. His contract came to an end after the white-ball tournament in England. As per reports, Subhadeep Ghosh will be taking up the post and filling in the duties as the fielding coach. At the same time, Ryan ten Doeschate, Indiaโs menโs assistant coach, has also stepped down from his position.ย
โFielding was always the first part of our training sessions: Suresh Raina
Assessing the situation Indian men have fallen into, former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina reflected on the changing fielding scene of Indian cricket. In an episode of Cheeky Singles on JioStar, the expert looked back on how the culture of fielding at his time shaped his career. He talked about discipline, work ethic, and the lessons that defined his playing years.ย
โWe had created a culture of fielding. All the players used to come in half an hour early because fielding was always the first part of our training sessions,โ he said.ย
Comparing his fielding training with todayโs scenario, he pointed out how the fielding practices were rigorous and did not stop after a catch or two. โIt wasn’t like many fielding sessions today, where you take a few catches and feel the job is done. Back then, we would practise high catches separately, do ground fielding separately, slip catches separately, and parallel catches. We would also place a single stump in the middle,โ he added.
Referring to his time on the field, he quoted his then captain Mohammad Kaif: โYou’ll only make the playing XI if you hit the stump with a direct throw.โ
On the show, he also highlighted the players who inspired him throughout his journey and said, โIt’s always special to be appreciated by Jonty Rhodes, who has always been our idol. I learned so much from Kaif bhai and otherwise, Yuvraj Singh, because they used to field at point and cover, while I stayed at mid-off. In all the matches we played for India together, we never let the ball go past us!”
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