- By Namrata Vijay
- Wed, 25 Jun 2025 06:03 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs ENG 1st Test: Shubman Gill's stint as team India's new Test skipper started on a bad note as they lost to England by five wickets during the first Test match in Headingley. What made this loss more disappointing was the Men in Blue's woeful fielding efforts.
The Shubman Gill-led side had dropped eight catches and gave the hosts lifelines multiple times. As per Cricviz data, which has been keeping track of fielding efforts since 2006, it was the third most dropped catches by an Indian team in the longest format.
The success rate of the visitors' catch in this game was a disappointing 52.9%, which is the eighth lowest for any team in this format according to the recorded fielding data.
Yashasvi Jaiswal had dropped four of those eight catches and he had dropped three while standing in the slip cordon, (third slip, fourth slip, and gully) and had dropped one catch while standing in the outfield.
The Men in Blue had set an entirely new slip cordon field setting, which consisted of players like KL Rahul, Gill, Karun Nair, and Jaiswal. These changes were made after senior players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and R Ashwin announced their retirement from this format and players like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were completely dropped from team India's Test squad.
Rahane has been one of the best players while standing in the slip for the Indian spinners, especially in the subcontinent conditions.
Even though Jaiswal did drop lots of catches while fielding, the other fielders standing at slip cordon took their catches- as Karun Nair took two catches whereas KL Rahul took one.