SYDNEY, June 28: Former Australia keeper-batter Brad Haddin believes the Indian team, led by Shubman Gill, needs an "attitude adjustment" as the visitors try to find a way out of their fielding woes in the ongoing five-Test series in England.
Indian fielders, especially Yashasvi Jaiswal, dropped several catches as Gill's side lost the opening Test at Headingley by five wickets to go 0-1 down against Ben Stokes' team.
The 47-year-old Haddin, who played 66 Tests and scored more than 6,500 runs across formats for Australia, said that all the great cricket teams across different eras had good fielding as their distinguishing feature.
"Every great team, no matter what era you are playing, the one standout they've always had... they've been great fielding teams. And, I think, that's the one legacy (Shubman) Gill can start to leave now on this team," said Haddin in his Willow Talk podcast.
"It needs an attitude adjustment if you want to field well and compete the whole time, it's only attitude," Haddin added.
Young opener Jaiswal, who was fielding in the slips and gully region, crucial catches off the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah, leaving the pace spearhead frustrated.
Indicating that Indian players' poor fielding was evident during this year's Indian Premier League, Haddin said the catching had left a lot to be desired during the two-month-long T20 tournament.
"In the IPL this year, the catching was horrible. Yes, we talk about talented bowlers, batsmen, but it was the catching that was a real problem."
He said that there was nothing stopping India from becoming the best fielding side in the world given the kind of talent they had.
"And the one thing I'd say to India, is find a way to be the best fielding team in the world because you've got the talent everywhere else," he said.
India will hope to overcome their shortcoming and level the series when the second Test gets underway in Birmingham on July 2. (PTI) |
