Ajinkya Rahane, R Sridhar, Indian National Cricket Team
Ajinkya Rahane is a fine catcher at slips. (Credits - Twitter)

The biggest reason behind India’s dominance in Test cricket has been the relentless nature of their bowlers, but the importance and efficiency of the fielders tend to go unnoticed. They have improved their performance in catching and ground fielding, which helped India sit on top of the table. However, surprisingly, in the last couple of series, Ajinkya Rahane has lost his magical touch while fielding to spinners at slips, especially, for Ravichandran Ashwin. Team India’s fielding coach R Sridhar recently threw some light on it saying that it surprises him when Rahane drops a catch.

You won’t often come across the vice-captain of the Indian National Cricket Team Ajinkya Rahane dropping catches in the slip cordon. The best catcher of the Indian team at slips had dropped quite a few catches off Ravichandran Ashwin to receive the flak of the Indian fans. However, R Sridhar highlights the reasons behind the drop catches.

He is one of the best – R Sridhar

Sridhar called Ajinkya Rahane a world-class fielder in the slip cordon. He believes that only a few cricketers come close to Rahane when it comes to catching in slips, especially, for the spinners. The fielding coach of the Indian National Cricket Team quoted that he was surprised to see Ajinkya Rahane dropping sitters at Indore.

Read More  Steve Smith joins forces to slam Hardik Pandya for the underuse of Jasprit Bumrah
Ajinkya Rahane, R Sridhar, Indian National Cricket Team
R Sridhar. Credit: Getty Images

”Totally surprised. Because when Rahane drops a catch, it always surprises me considering the work he puts into preparation. If you look the world over, there are not many like him. He is one of the best when it comes to standing at slips for spinners. When we assessed those drops and did our debriefing, we didn’t respect the conditions that much in Indore,” Sridhar said.

Ajinkya Rahane had very less time to react –

Further, R Sridhar quoted that the management didn’t give a thought to the bounce of the wicket produced at Indore. He feels that Rahane stood a bit close to the stumps and Ashwin being a tall bowler got an extra bounce, which carried at chest height to Rahane.

Ajinkya Rahane, India vs Bangladesh 2019
Credits – Twitter

”There was plenty of bounce on that surface. With (R) Ashwin being a tall bowler, he was getting a bit of over-spin. I thought Rahane was standing a bit forward than he should have been, and the ball was coming to his chest. He had very less time to react, and he couldn’t do anything about it. It was nothing to do with his skills. It just boils down to positioning,” R Sridhar said to The New Indian Express.

As R Sridhar said, Ajinkya Rahane had always been a brilliant catcher for India at slips. Even when the Indian team isn’t at their best in the slips, Rahane showed how to do it for the fellow cricketers. However, Rahane has been in brilliant form with the bat scoring four consecutive 50+ scores and will hope to keep up the job when India play against New Zealand.

Read More  Win Nexon EV Prime XM car and other top prizes for betting on Indian T20 League!

I just love what I script. Over the years, Cricket has been my passion and crisping articles on it gives me an immense pleasure...Cheers...!!!