Former fielding coach R Sridhar feels the better standards of the men in blue have played a crucial role in their success over Pakistan...
Pakistani pacers Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Aaqib Javed invoked a sense of fear among Indian batsmen in the late 1980s and early 90s. Pakistan's batting department, with the likes of Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail and Javed Miandad, also had the wood over the Indian bowlers during that period. But one area of the game in which the Indians always had an upper hand in Indo-Pak contests was the fielding.
Barring an individual brilliance from an Ijaz Ahmed or an Imran Nazir, Pakistan always came up short in the fielding department and their ground fielding and catching often left a lot to be desired.
India have been far superior as a fielding unit in the limited-over formats over the years and always had an array of good fielders in their mix like Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja.
As Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam's men cross swords in the Asia Cup and then later on in the World T20 in Australia, fielding remains an area in which Indians have an advantage. Former India fielding coach R Sridhar reckons that it is the improved fitness levels team that have helped the side become a better fielding unit.
"You always talk about batting and bowling performances in Indo-Pak contests. But if you ask me, Indian team's fielding has played an equally important role in their victories over Pakistan in the 9-10 Indo-Pak contests I have been a part of. Basically, it boiled down to the Virat Kohli culture, where fielding and fitness were given utmost importance.
"The players worked hard to improve their fitness levels and it automatically lifted the fielding standards. Our fitness levels are better than Pakistanis. It will reflect in this Asia Cup too," Sridhar told TOI. The Pakistan team, however has made up for some lost ground in recent years, evident in their victory over India in the World T20 in Dubai last year. The likes of Shadab Khan and Fakhar Zaman have emerged as Pakistan's reliable fielders. However, as a fielding unit, Babar's men are still a work in progress.
It is here that India score over Pakistan as Sridhar says a lot of emphasis was put on improving the fielding standards of the 'average' fielders. "The good fielders always did their job. Our challenge was to get some of our bowlers to field better. So we kept working with on the likes of Chahal, Kuldeep, Bhuvi, Shami and Bumrah on an individual basis.
"We worked out many parameters and made sure that they enjoyed their fielding during practice and in the match. Before the players realised it, their fielding had improved a great deal," added Sridhar.
