Sunil Gavaskar, without naming any player, said that poor fielding was a major reason behind India’s series loss to New Zealand. Gavaskar said India allowed New Zealand’s batsmen to take singles easily, which showed a lack of active intent in the field, including Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Indian cricket is going through difficult times. The Men in Blue lost an ODI series to New Zealand on home soil for the first time. India won the opening match, but New Zealand bounced back by winning the next two games and won the series. Notably, the Kiwis fielded an inexperienced team for the recent series.
I don’t want to take names – Sunil Gavaskar
Speaking during a discussion with Simon Doull, Sunil Gavaskar said that the Indian fielders were slow to react and allowed easy singles to be taken, which helped New Zealand keep the scoreboard running. He said the fielding effort could have been more proactive.
“I don’t want to take names, but some people allowed singles to be taken too easily. Yes, Rohit Sharma was fast and Virat Kohli, we all know how much of an athlete he is on the field, but I felt the fielding could have been more proactive,” Sunil Gavaskar said during a discussion with Simon Doull.
India let the match slip away after restricting New Zealand to 5/2 as the visitors posted a total of 338/7. The target proved to be very difficult to chase despite Virat Kohli’s century, which was his 54th in ODIs. India eventually lost by 41 runs in Holkar on Sunday, 18 January.
Virat Kohli’s century went in vain, India fell behind in the third ODI
Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana dismissed Devon Conway for 5 runs and Henry Nicholls for zero on the very first ball. After New Zealand added 53 runs, Harshit also dismissed Will Young and soon put India on top.
However, India failed to take any more wickets till 31 overs. After this, Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips made a partnership of 219 runs for the fourth wicket. New Zealand scored 337/8, with Mitchell adding 137 and Phillips adding 106.
In reply, India lost four wickets for 71 runs. Virat Kohli and Nitish Kumar Reddy chased the target with a partnership of 88 runs before Reddy was out for 53 runs.
Later, Kohli made a quick partnership of 99 runs in 60 balls with Harshit Rana. Harshit scored 52 runs in 43 balls before being dismissed, while Kohli scored 124 runs in 108 balls soon after. India were all out for 296 in 46 overs and lost their first home ODI series to New Zealand since 1988.
I was surprised how easily New Zealand… – Sunil Gavaskar
This was not the first time that Sunil Gavaskar had expressed concern over India’s defeat. After the second ODI in Rajkot, he expressed surprise that New Zealand achieved the target of 285 runs with seven wickets and 15 balls remaining. He said conditions looked ideal for New Zealand to be banned.
“I was surprised by how easily New Zealand got across the line because, before we started batting, everyone thought India would be able to take advantage of the slow pace of the pitchGavaskar said after the second ODI.
Sunil Gavaskar said, “Their bowlers, not just the spinners but all of them, using the slow surface well, felt like India would be able to restrict New Zealand to around 260 or 270. I thought it would be an easy win for India.”
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