Yuvraj Singh has expressed his disappointment at the way India fielded during the first ODI against South Africa, a game they ended up losing by 31 runs.
The left-hander, who was rated as one of the finest fielders in the game, was left unimpressed by the India’s performance in the field in the first ODI, saying that they have to “put your body on line (sic) for every run”.
Taking to Twitter, Yuvraj commented, “Watching the highlights disapnted with the fielding ! Guys looking at each other on over throws expecting the other guy to field I mean u need to put your body on line for every run that’s what our generation taught us Loosing and winning is part of the game but not like this (sic)”.
watching the highlights disapnted with the fielding ! Guys looking at each other on over throws expecting the other guy to field I mean u need to put your body on line for every run that’s what our generation taught us Loosing and winning is part of the game but not like this
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) January 20, 2022
India not only dropped two catches in the match, with Shreyas Iyer putting down Quinton de Kock in the 12th over, and Virat Kohli unable to latch on to a tough chance to send back Rassie van der Dussen in the 45th over, but there were a number of misfields. The first ball of the 35th over saw van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma set off for a sharp single with the fielder having a shy at the stumps. However, the ball missed the target and eventually went to the boundary after the two fielders at deep backward square leg and deep midwicket were unable to stop the four.
The sloppy efforts allowed South Africa to post a formidable 296 on the board after they were struggling at 68-3 at one stage. India, in turn, were unable to capitalise on the good start, slipping from 138-1 to 214-8 before Thakur’s unbeaten fifty got them to 265.
