Where will you put Virat as a fielder among legendary Indian cricketers

[vvvslaxman]

Vijay Merchant, Vishwanath, Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin, Kapil Dev, Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Sehwag, Pujara, Rahane where does Kohli sit as a fielder? Especially as a catcher. 

[diga]

He has dropped so many catches ..below Ganguly as a fielder

[pkmmamks]

In the slips 

[Gollum]

Groundfielding elite, close to SENA standards. Admired his energy.

 

As a catcher, could pull off blinders but also drop sitters even in the deep, not just in slips....and many of his drops proved to be damn costly. Extremely poor catching efficiency, that drags his overall score down. I would prefer safe catchers any day. 

[Ultimate_Game]

One of the worst catchers I've seen, and dropped sitters. There was a stat that he has dropped 45+ catches over the last 3 years - more than twice than the 2nd worst fielder.

[kosingh]

Way too restless a person to be a good catcher

[bowl_out]

Elite ground fielder

 

Rubbish catcher

[cricspirit]

Good ground fielder. Wont put him at elite level because even with his fitness and energy, he is simply not that efficient.  His fielding brain is not elite. Seen him doing many simple misfields and then acting like its the fault of the ground or the ball itself.  

 

Catching is very ordinary. I believe half the blinders just happened. Too eager to do something and messes it up. 

 

Overall still a good fielder who dropped too many catches. 

 

Many of the older players you mentioned don't have the fitness of Kohli but they were great catchers. I have not seen Merchant or Viswanath. Them and Gavaskar belong to a different era and should not be in the discussion.

 

KAPIL was elite athlete all round be it fielding or catching. 

 

Azar is one of the best all round fielders India produced. He is elite for me.

 

VVS Laxman was exceptional in the slips. Dravid was all around very good catcher and good fielder for his time. Sachin had energy and was all around good as well. Sachin charged the ball and had a good arm plus judged catches well. 

 

Viru and Ganguly were more the lazy kind. they had safe hands for catching but ground fielding nothing to talk about.

 

Rahane better catcher and lesser fielder than Kohli. 

 

PUJARA is LOL fielder. 

 

I honestly can't point out anyone who was worse in catching than Kohli though. Specially simple catches that were important to be taken. Ground fielding Kohli is better than many but not the best.

[Sandz]

 Catching aside, he is one of the best from India, alongside Yuvi, Kaif, Robin Singh Jadeja.

[crictime]

Fielders better than Virat Kohli

 

Jadeja

Robin Singh

Yuvraj Singh

Suresh Raina

Kaif

Azharudin

Sachin Tendulkar

Manish Pandey

Rinku Singh

Ramandeep Singh

Kapil Dev

VVS 

 

 

 

[Nonbeliever]

Right above munaf patel.

[StraightDrive26]

Horrible catcher. Still can't believe he dropped a dolly of Brendon McCullum in the second Test in NZ in 2014. McCullum went on to score 300 and drew the test match. Very good ground fielder but an unreliable close in catcher. 

[New guy]

On 5/17/2025 at 8:33 AM, Sandz said:

 Catching aside, he is one of the best from India, alongside Yuvi, Kaif, Robin Singh Jadeja.

Isn't catching the most crucial aspect of fielding? Top fielders like johnty, ab, phillips are known for their catching more than other aspects. 

 

This is like saying someone is a top batsman, if you keep aside everytime they get out for single digits.

[Sandz]

2 hours ago, New guy said:

Isn't catching the most crucial aspect of fielding? Top fielders like johnty, ab, phillips are known for their catching more than other aspects. 

 

This is like saying someone is a top batsman, if you keep aside everytime they get out for single digits.

His slip catching was poor and declined considerably with age, but this was primarily in test cricket. He also played two other formats and has the second most outfield catches in ODI in fewer matches than Jayawardena so he can’t be that bad? I think his dropped catches in test cricket get amplified on here and white ball gets ignored. 
 

His overall fielding could be compared to a top batsmen who struggles against left arm spin .

[Nikhil_cric]

1 hour ago, Sandz said:

His slip catching was poor and declined considerably with age, but this was primarily in test cricket. He also played two other formats and has the second most outfield catches in ODI in fewer matches than Jayawardena so he can’t be that bad? I think his dropped catches in test cricket get amplified on here and white ball gets ignored. 
 

His overall fielding could be compared to a top batsmen who struggles against left arm spin .

His catch success percentage is perhaps quite average even in white ball cricket. 

[kosingh]

Him getting hit in the face when attempting a skyer was comical