Former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin thinks Shubman Gill, the captain of Team India, needs to change his mindset in order to transform his team into a potent fielding force. Haddin made these comments after India missed a great chance to win the first Test match against England in Leeds and start their UK tour.
India made outstanding batting efforts in both innings, but they lost eight catches, which gave the England batsmen the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and win by five wickets. Ben Duckett’s outstanding 149 on the last day helped the hosts easily chase down 371 by five wickets.
The left-hander was dropped in both innings and punished India with 211 runs in two innings.
On the LiSTNR Sport podcast, Haddin addressed Shubman Gill and his team’s subpar fielding, saying (via Hindustan Times):
“Every great team, no matter what year you’re playing, the one stand out feature they’ve always had is that they’ve been a great fielding team. And I think that is one legacy Gill has start to leave now on this team. He needs an attitude adjustment.”
Brad Haddin
He added:
“If you want to field well and compete the whole time, it’s only attitude. You can do all your technical work off the field and have as many coaches as anyone, but it won’t matter. Even in the IPL this year, the catching was horrible. And that could be a byproduct.”
Brad Haddin
Gill had an amazing debut as captain with the bat, striking a brilliant 147 in India’s first innings total of 471. However, particularly on the last day, he made a number of dubious decisions with his field placements and bowling changes.
“There’s a lot of pressure on that top order” – Brad Haddin on India’s batting collapses in first England Test
Brad Haddin feels India’s recurrent lower-order batting collapses will put great pressure on their top five batters throughout the England series. In both innings of the Leeds Test, Team India established themselves in a solid position to dominate.
However, they fell from 430/3 to 471 all-out in the first innings and 333/4 to 364 in the second.
“What hasn’t happened for the first time is India’s batting collapse. There’s a lot of pressure on that top order. If you get through them, they will run through the remaining,” said Haddin (via the aforementioned source).
India’s loss at Leeds was the first for a team with five individual hundreds in a Test match. Apart from Gill, other players who achieved three figures were Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. The latter scored hundreds in both innings.
On July 2, the tourists will play the second Test at Edgbaston in an attempt to tie the five-match series.
