‘You can’t expect good fielding from…’: Jadeja’s bold statement about India stars ahead of Bangladesh tie at World Cup

Former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja has questioned the fielding standards of the Rohit Sharma-led Team India after South Africa upstaged the Asian giants in their third fixture of the Super 12 stage at the ICC T20 World Cup on Sunday.

Team India’s fielding has come under the scanner after Rohit and Virat Kohli gave South Africa batters some match-defining reprieves in the low-scoring encounter at the Perth Stadium on Sunday.

While captain Rohit failed to inflict a run-out dismissal of Aiden Markram, former Indian skipper Kohli dropped an absolute dolly of a catch during South Africa’s run-chase of the 134-run target set by Team India at Perth. Talking about India’s fielding disasterclass against South Africa, former Indian all-rounder Jadeja opined that Asian teams are not giving importance to fielding.

“Last time I heard about giving importance to fielding was when Virat Kohli became Team India’s captain. He had taken a decision of including only those players, who are good fielders. He is no longer the captain and the coach has also changed. The new captain is not bothered about fielding. He is more concerned about batting and bowling. So, the current Team India that you have is not much athletic,” Jadeja told Cricbuzz.

Former India all-rounder Jadeja also made a bold statement about senior players Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami. “Who are the fielders we have? We have Ashwin and Shami. In terms of bowling, these two are great but you can’t expect good fielding from them. When you pick a team, you know what you want and I think Team India has not given much attention to their fielding,” the former Indian cricketer added.

Jadeja’s remarks have come after India failed to take their chances on the field and ended up suffering a five-wicket defeat at the hands of South Africa in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup. Rohit-led Team India will meet Bangladesh in their next World Cup fixture at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.