Gavaskar Gives Radical 'Average Fielding' Advice To BCCI: "Show The Door"

Legendary Indian cricket team batter Sunil Gavaskar urged the team management to 'show the door' to every 'average fielder' in the side. Following India's T20I series losses against Ireland and England, Gavaskar believes that the team should not hide players whose fielding has not been up to mark and urged the management to not include them in the squad anymore. In the past few matches, including the three games against Zimbabwe, India's fielding has come under a lot of fire, and Gavaskar went on to say that the captain should not have to hide 'three or four players' if they are not performing well on the field. “It's mandatory that if a player is an average fielder, he has to be shown the door. There is simply no way a captain has to hide three or four players, hoping the ball won't go anywhere near them," Gavaskar wrote on Sportstar.

Both the team and head coach Gautam Gambhir were criticised heavily after their back-to-back series loss, but Gavaskar insisted that there was no need to 'panic' and added that the team needs to introspect on their 'batting temperament'. “A good, honest reflection on what the shortcomings were and how to overcome them is the need of the hour. Shot selection is very important, and here the batter has to rein in his ego and not try to live up to an image, but play the ball on its merits. Yes, in the ultra-short format, the T20, it is not easy to do so as big shots are needed virtually every other delivery.

But it is different in the ODI format, where there is time for a short period of settling down before the power shots are unfurled." The legendary cricketer also pointed out a major area of improvement for the Indian cricket team. "People have been speaking about the Indian batters hammering the bowling on flat pitches and smaller boundaries in the IPL and then getting exposed in unfamiliar conditions in England. The fact is that there were flat pitches in India, alright, but it's the ridiculously small boundaries that flatter the batter, whose mishits can clear the ropes, while in countries with bigger and longer boundaries these same hits are caught inside the boundary line," Gavaskar explained.