Former England batsman Mark Butcher said Ravi Ashwin isn't the 'best mover' in the Indian squad after the off-spinner's sloppy fielding on Day 2 of the first Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Ashwin dropped a tough return catch when England all-rounder Ben Stokes charged and hit the ball down the wicket.
Having no time to react, Ashwin wasn't able to pluck the catch as Stokes, batting on 31, was handed a lifeline by the veteran tweaker. Stokes, in fact, was dropped again in the next over when Cheteshwar Pujara put down a difficult catch.
Stokes was eventually dismissed on 82 but Butcher was critical of Ashwin's movement of the field. "Ashwin’s not the 'best mover' in the Indian side. He always looks to me like he’s 20 years older than he is really is sometimes out there on the field. And he’s bowled a lot of overs, he’s looking a little bit tired and that’s the chance you desperately want to hang on to,” Butcher said on Star Sports Network.
“The thing that ended up being the case for India is that they were going to hope that Ben Stokes did something wrong and gave him a chance. Stokes was aiming it to the left of the screen and it ended up going up right.”
Legendary India opener Sunil Gavaskar was also critical of India's woeful fielding show in the first Test. He asked the fielding coach to train bowlers with caught and bowled situations.
“Just like they practice the pull shot, the cut shot in the nets, I think the fielding coach must also try and give them these caught and bowled situations as if the bowler has bowled and then he looks up and the catch comes. It is an important aspect.
India have been missing a fair few caught and bowled opportunities. I don’t know how they will be able to practice that but they need to do that,” Gavaskar said.
