Pace muscles need helping hands

India's pre-match warm-up session ended this morning at the Wankhede with a five-man slip cordon standing behind a squatting Greg Chappell...

India8217;s pre-match warm-up session ended this morning at the Wankhede with a five-man slip cordon standing behind a squatting Greg Chappell who, with a bat in hand, obligingly edged the balls thrown at him by Ian Fraser. Most of those catches were held at the dress rehearsal but not when the real action began. The England batsmen, too, were in a similar obliging mood like Chappell, but the Indian fielders fumbled.

Seven catches were dropped on the day and the sight of a helpless Munaf Patel 8212; Andrew Flintoff was dropped twice off his successive deliveries 8212; meant that while India8217;s pace muscle was rippling the rest of the frame remained underdeveloped. With the slip cordon and the gully region inhabited with non-specialist fielders, India8217;s pace attack desperately needs helping hands.

Former Test 8217;keeper Farookh Engineer drove home the point when he said, 8216;8216;I was beginning to believe that the Indian fielding was improving but that is not the case.8217;8217; For a man who has seen the best of the close-in fielders in the past 8212; Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Venkataraghavan and the great Eknath Solkar, Ajit Wadekar 8212; the action at the centre today was amateurish.

But a serious look at the men involved in the pre-match 8216;catching session8217; explains a lot. Of Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Yuvraj Singh and Anil Kumble only the Indian captain 8212; he had some tips from the Aussie legend Bob Simpson 8212; can be termed as a specialist. As for the rest, it is a reluctant bunch or, at best, specialist stoppers away from the bat.

Former Indian manger Wadekar explains the dearth of good close-in fielders. 8216;8216;It8217;s a Catch-22 situation. When you go with five bowlers, you drop VVS Laxman, a excellent slip fielder. And by dropping him or even Mohammad Kaif the pacers don8217;t get the kind of support they need,8217;8217; he says.

Wadekar then goes on to give more details about the rapidly depleting breed of close-in fielders. 8216;8216;Sachin Tendulkar was once a slip fielder but gradually moved to the outfield with growing age while Sehwag is confused about his position on field,8217;8217; he says.

Sehwag8217;s confusion is because of his back problem and reluctance to crouch for every ball. This was evident from the first dropped catch off Munaf. In his first over with the new ball, Munaf had Sehwag fielding at mid-on with Dravid, Yuvraj and substitute Kaif forming the slip cordon.

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In the next over Kaif went back to the dressing room as Sehwag took his place in the second slip. Flintoff8217;s snick saw an edgy Sehwag flooring a catch. To make matters worse Kumble 8212; another ageing player better suited for mid-on or mid-off positions 8212; at gully failed to grab a straight forward chance.

Wadekar explains the two fumbles. 8216;8216;Munaf8217;s pace is new to the fielders. The close-in cordon used to be much closer when Pathan bowls. Things get tougher when the ball flies after an express Munaf ball,8217;8217; he says.

It was not just the pacers, the spinners too found little support from the field today. Yuvraj and Dravid were both guilty of denying Harbhajan Singh and Kumble success. Dravid redeemed himself with a stunning one-handed instinctive catch in the slips to send back Owais Shah.

But that can8217;t quite put a lid on the can of worms the dropped catches opened. And close-in fielding is not something that can be improved overnight after a brief session like the one with former star Yajuvendra Singh on the match eve.

SCOREBOARD

England 1st Innings

Strauss c Dhoni b Harbhajan 128

Bell c Harbhajan b Sreesunth 18

Shah c Dravid b Harbhajan 88

Pietersen c Dhoni b Sreesunth 39

Collingwood c Dhoni b Sreesunth 31

Flintoff c Tendulkar b Kumble 50

Jones c Kumble b Sreesunth 1

Udal lbw Patel 9

Hoggard b Patel 0

Anderson c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 15