Spinners' support

[Mr. Wicket]

One moment earlier this session summed up all our woes: Younis got an inside edge onto pad, ball looped up, and neither of the short legs moved. Laxman and Jaffer are fine fielders in the slip cordon, but abysmal at short leg. Dinesh Karthik isn't much better with his propensity to keep moving. India in the last decade or so has had two good short leg fielders. Rahul Dravid, whose reflexes have slowed down slightly - enough to mean he can't be risked in that position - and Akash Chopra. Focus on the last name. Is it a coincidence that in the two high profile series he played fully, Anil Kumble returned some of his best results ever on non-Indian pitches? Quick bowlers require a solid slip cordon and a good keeper for support. Spinners need a top notch bat-pad fielder or two to be truly successful. This is a large reason why the quartet did so well. Bedi, Chandra, Venkat and Prasanna have all made it clear that they would never had earned so many of their wickets had they not had Ekkie Solkar crouching at bat-pad. Even other great spin bowlers have had fine bat-pad fieldsmen backing them up. Muralitharan has Jayawardene quite often and sometimes Dilshan. O'Reilly and Grimmett had Jack Fingleton. Warne had David Boon and Justin Langer. Kumble in Australia and Pakistan 2003-04 had Chopra, and Chopra took more catches off his bowling than anyone else (slip fielders, keepers, outfielders, etc). With a truly world class bat-pad man - IMO India's best in a long time - Kumble became a superb force. Against Australia in the following home series, he and Harbhajan again enjoyed a fair bit of success with Chopra crouching in at bat-pad, holding catches with amazing reliability and pulling the odd blinder out of thin air. If India's going to try and rely upon spinners for success like this, they need a quality support act who can do what Dravid once did, or Chopra - rather than a Karthik, Jaffer or Laxman acting as a stopgap filler in a position requiring a specialist, who will then end up costing us runs and wickets. And for that matter, given how much they'll look to Kumble in the coming test series in Australia, it might not be a bad idea to bring the little guy back, especially as he's among the runs once more. Kumble certainly won't mind him helping produce the wickets by the catches and pressure he can build preventing a fair number of singles to let him keep his batsmen on strike.

[Cricketics]

this thread touches a pretty strong point.. i agree.. these things ppl don't think about before selecting the team, squad.. ... may be if a bit more sense is applied a solid outfit can turn up to the ground and help bowlers take more wickets.... those reflxes are really needed when u r standing at gully, slip or silly..

[The Outsider]

Excellent post, Salil. Enjoyed the read. Chopra was superb at short leg and given his recent form with the bat, probably deserves a spot to Australia.

[Anakin]

yep, chopra was outstanding in close positions

[sm332]

some of the fielding at short leg has been abysmal ... i recall windies where Yuvraj and Kaif were like sieves ... vs Poms in India it wasnt much better .... :(

[Guest dada_rocks]

Most probabaly you all will get your wish, Chopra will be selected for sure..

[Sachinism]

its a shame these players cant be more agile, people like hayden dive and move fast in them positions i guess indians just are damn lazy

[beetle]

Excellent OP Kartick has really been bad. If he doesn't improve in the next test...he should be left out on the basis of his fielding . At his age...he has no excuse for such bad fielding. It is so demoralising for the bowlers. How can they set up batsmen if they can't trust the fielders?

[Chandan]

Excellent point Salil. But we have to know if Chopra is as good at that position as he was 4 years back. Why do you think that his reflexes would not have slowed down in 4 years? Does anyone know where Chopra has been fielding in recent Ranji matches and whether he is capable of pulling off catches at close in position or not?

[Cricketics]

he is fielding at slips to spinners.. sometimes stand in gully to seamers.. short leg too..

[Mr. Wicket]

pjilka: Fielding at short leg isn't about laziness and fitness - it's literally a specialist position. Some can field there, others can't. You need a superb set of reflexes, great anticipation and the ability to keep very still and yet move incredibly quickly. That's why excellent fielders like Kaif and Yuvraj have been poor in that position, and a fielder like Chopra who isn't up to that standard in the inner ring is exceptional there. IMO, when a team relies as much on spinners as India does, the position should be given prime importance rather than letting anyone random field there. Eknath Solkar was picked almost as a specialist in the position, and he ended up playing huge roles in winning test matches for us. Chopra isn't as good, but his batting is on the upswing again and should be considered not just as an opening candidate, but as an opening candidate who can also field at short leg with success and make Kumble and Bhajji a lot more effective than they presently are. Chandan: He's 30, hence why I'm not concerned about his reflexes going yet. Plus he's had the ideal technique in that position - stays low, stays very still for as long as possible and those are key points for any top bat-pad man to have.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Donny]

I totally agree with Salil re. a specialist short leg. Many half chances go there. Some fielders, as mentioned, don't even move till the ball is past them. The specialists often snap them up. There would be few in Test history who could've completed Warne's hat trick the way David Boon did. One problem though. As the squad will comprise 7 batsmen, 5 quicks, 2 spinners and 2 keepers, who do you leave out to include Chopra ? Yuvraj ? Karthick doubles as the second keeper and Gambhir looks to have the reserve opener's spot so if DK is replaced by Chopra, another keeper will need to come in - leaving the 7 batsmen as Jaffer, Chopra, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman. There are a few variables. There was a suggestion, after he scored a century in the second Test, SG may retire. That would allow Yuvi to tour. Without Chopra in the squad, maybe GG or Yuvi could take short leg ? Perhaps they're not suited. If Chopra is included because of his ability at short leg, that presents another problem. In 10 Tests, he averages just 23 with the bat. Again, if AC tours, Gambhir could make way for him and, in the event of an injury, either a replacement opener is flown out or RD does the job. I suppose DK could be included as reserver keeper and third opener, thus leaving a spot for Yuvraj - with GG missing out.

[Dravid]

there is still a test left... kkd makes 50+... he will prob make itt..

[The Outsider]

If Chopra is included because of his ability at short leg, that presents another problem. In 10 Tests, he averages just 23 with the bat.

As I mentioned in some other thread, Chopra's batting average is misleading. He was clearly playing under the instructions of blocking one end and with Sehwag in superb form at the other end, the ploy worked brilliantly. I had mentioned this at that time as well that such an approach although thoughtful is very risky for Chopra's career and wanted the team management and selectors to have understanding towards it. Problem was that due to his extremely low SR even his "successful" innings were around the 30-60 mark which left him extremely vulnerable towards 3-4 failures in a row, which is exactly what happened coupled with the desire to include Yuvraj in the XI.

Again, if AC tours, Gambhir could make way for him and, in the event of an injury, either a replacement opener is flown out or RD does the job. I suppose DK could be included as reserver keeper and third opener, thus leaving a spot for Yuvraj - with GG missing out.

As much as I don't like it from all practical standpoints Yuvraj is a certainty in the XVI. Given a choice between Gambhir and Chopra, I would go for Chopra because he along with Jaffer offers the best chance for the Indian openers to blunt the Kookaburra over it's danger period of 30 odd overs.