Mike Young to help India's fielding

[vvvslaxman]

http://www.cricinfo.com/indvsl2009/content/story/438047.html Mike Young to help India's fielding Nagraj Gollapudi December 4, 2009 India's poor fielding in recent series prompted the management to call for Young's services © Associated Press Mike Young, formerly with the Australian team, has been appointed India's fielding consultant for the limited-overs leg of the home series against Sri Lanka and will join the team on Sunday. "This is just a consultancy contract with the BCCI, not a coaching assignment," Young told Cricinfo hours before boarding the flight from Brisbane to India on Friday. Young, primarily a baseball coach, has been involved with the Australian team as a fielding consultant for the past nine years. His most recent contract with Cricket Australia ended after Australia's ODI series in India in October. Before returning to Australia, Young met India's coach Gary Kirsten and then decided to take up the offer. "Gary and I spoke after the series was over in India. I would not speak to anybody before that because I was still contracted to Cricket Australia," he said. India have been without a fielding coach since the BCCI sacked Robin Singh days before the Australia series. Robin and Venkatesh Prasad, the bowling coach, appointed from India's tour of Bangladesh in 2007 on a retainer basis, were offered no explanation for their termination. Subsequent reports in the media, quoting various sources, indicated a growing concern over India's fielding standards that led to Robin's ouster. Young comes to the new job with strong credentials. He is well-known for his radical methods and is the brain behind Australia's quicksilver fielding, which has played an integral role in their success this decade. But Young said he would only be involved in training the players and not in developing team strategies. "My role with the team is specific and will only consist of teaching fielding practices and philosophies, I will not be involved in any other aspect of the team i.e. match strategy, player evaluation," he said. Young will return to Australia on December 27 after the Sri Lanka series and is not willing to talk about a long-time role with the Indian team. "Whatever the future may hold is totally rumour at this stage," he said. Nagraj Gollapudi is an assistant editor at Cricinfo RSS Feeds: Nagraj Gollapudi

[Celeste]

No coach can improve subcontinent players fielding.

[vvvslaxman]

After seeing Haddin, Hussey catches in the Adelaide Test against windies i was really envious of their fielding. I very much doubt we can ever match them. Probably on their bad day and on our good day. But certainly Indian fielding was one of the reason why India missed out the opportunity of becoming world no.1 in one dayers. Hope this new guys fixes some issues.

[SachDan]

But Young said he would only be involved in training the players and not in developing team strategies. "My role with the team is specific and will only consist of teaching fielding practices and philosophies, I will not be involved in any other aspect of the team i.e. match strategy, player evaluation," he said.

Thank you very much!

[Sachinism]

At the end of the day its up to the individual to improve. But hopefully he can provide some good tips

[Ram]

Agreed that we’re not the most athletically gifted people in the world, but for eff’s sake, why are some of our players so embarrassingly out of shape? You look at someone like Praghyan Ojha and its crystal clear that he isn’t anywhere close being in a shape that is required of an international level professional athlete. Worse, more than a handful of players in the Indian team seem to be carrying a paunch, which is a cardinal sin, especially if you’re playing at that level.

[vvvslaxman]

Ojha was a real embarrassment. He is what..23 or 24? He was moving like 40 year old on the fence. Dhoni was really pissed off with his fielding effort.

[Pioneer]

You can see with most players from Aus or NZ just by looking at them that they are fit. I mean comparing them with some of the players from the Asian teams, they look a hell of alot fitter. Someone like Symonds or Hilfenhaus seem to look like frickin bodybuilders.

[cowboysfan]

forget ojha,a lot of our senior players are not in shape.Improve your fitness and your fielding will see a dramatic improvement.

[Karan114]

Rohit Sharma is another youngster whose weight has ballooned

[Mamu]

The problem with Indians is when they are young they start off as good fielders, but with age, they start adding weight around their tummies and fielding declines. Look at Yuvraj -- he was a class 6 years ago, now he is considered nothing but ordinary. And I am afraid even Raina is going the same route, so is Rohit. Some guys like Azhar and Kapil were agile all along.

[vvvslaxman]

Kaif was the last fittest fielder India has fielded. He was capable of fielding anywhere on the ground.

[fineleg]

Kaif was the last fittest fielder India has fielded. He was capable of fielding anywhere on the ground.

except close-in where he jumps up, instead of being steady/still. But, yes - Kaif is undoubtedly the best fielder and he puts a premium on his fitness. Excellent ethics in terms of fitness. Its shocking to see the decline of Yuvi, Raina and Rohit Sharma in terms of fielding. They were EXCELLENT at one stage, and now just above average.

[The Outsider]

^ Raina is still very good though he has lost the knack of hitting the stumps which he used to have when he first came.

[Sachinism]

Raina's still good

[cowboysfan]

yuvi is totally out of shape and you can see it in his fielding.The coach has to be more assertive and demand better fitness among players,only cricketers and baseball players get away with not being totally fit.

[The Outsider]

Then : Now :

[OriginalCopy]

This looks like a butter chicken belly.

[kabira]

I think we should forget about this generation. Next gen cricketers who are less than 20 years old take fielding seriously Kohli, Jadeja, Pandey and company will be good fielders. So its better to train them.

[The Realist]

^^^ True but what shocks me is how the current group of players don't even care about basic athleticism and just let themselves go and deteriorate rapidly. Yuseless is the best example - used to be a good fielder but his lack of mobility and excess body fat is a joke for a professional international athlete. I think that is the main problem with India, they think of themselves as just cricketers not athletes. Fitness, nutrition and conditioning are simply ignored and as a consequence India resemble a retirement home in the field.