‘Shubman Gill needs an attitude adjustment': Brad Haddin says India captain responsible for improving fielding standards
India's new Test captain Shubman Gill will be held responsible for raising the fielding standards of his side following the horror show against England in the first Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy match in Headingley, according to former Australia wicket-keeper Brad Haddin. The visitors dropped eight catches across two innings in an eventual five-wicket defeat.
Despite impressive batting performances in both innings, India were made to pay for the blunders on the field behind a profligate pace attack that struggled to assist spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. Chasing down a venue record total of 371, their second-highest chase ever, England were led by Ben Duckett's scintillating 149 in the fourth innings. The southpaw opener was dropped in both innings of the match, while tallying 211 runs and was later adjudged the Player of the Match.
Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast, former Australia wicket-keeper Haddin felt the Indian skipper needed to lay down the marker for his side to follow in terms of being a dominant team on the field.
'Every great team, no matter what year you're playing, the one standout feature they've always had is that they've been a great fielding team. And I think that is one legacy Gill has start to leave now on this team. He needs an attitude adjustment,' said Haddin.
'If you want to field well and compete the whole time, it's only attitude. You can do all your technical work off the field and have as many coaches as anyone, but it won't matter. Even in the IPL this year, the catching was horrible. And that could be a byproduct,' he added.
Haddin added that India's transitioning Test side is heavily reliant on the top-order for runs this series, after two brittle collapses hurt the side from comfortable positions in the Test.
India went from 430 for three to 471 all out in the first innings, while adding only 31 runs for six wickets in their second essay to set the target.
'What hasn't happened for the first time is India's batting collapse. There's a lot of pressure on that top order. If you get through them, they will run through the remaining,' said Haddin.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
United News of India
an hour ago
- United News of India
Praggnanandhaa wins UzChess Cup Masters 2025, becomes India's No 1 ranked player
Tashkent (Uzbekistan), June 28(UNI) Grand Master R. Praggnanandhaa has emerged as India's number one ranked Chess player after his victory in the UzChess Cup Masters 2025. 19 year old Praggnanandhaa secured a win against Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the final match to bag the title on Friday. As a result of this win, Praggnanandhaa, with a live elo rating of 2778.3, rose three positions to move past reigning classical chess world champion D. Gukesh (2776.6) to become the top-ranked Indian player. Praggnanandhaa is now also the World No. 4 ranked player. UNI RKM
India.com
an hour ago
- India.com
Prabath Jayasuriya's five-wicket haul powers Sri Lanka to dominant innings victory against Bangladesh in second Test
Prabath Jayasuriya. New Delhi: In the second and final Test match of the two match series held between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on Saturday, June 28, at Sinhalese Sports Club of Colombo, Sri Lanka shockingly thrashed Bangladesh by innings and 78 runs. Prabath Jayasuriya shone with his 12th five-wicket haul and the hosts finished in a 1-0 series lead after Bangladesh were dismissed for a measly 133 in the 2nd innings. In the dying moments of the Day 3, the Sri Lankan team led by Dhananjaya de Silva saw a glimmer of win as Tharindu Ratnayake bowled a jagged delivery to clean up Mehidy Hasan Miraz (11) at the score of 115/6 to knock bundles of Bangladesh before the end of Day 3. Day 4, Prabath Jayasuriya was not too long in making a difference as he added two more to his overnight figures of 2, cleaning up Litton Das (14), caught behind off Kusal Mendis. Prabath Jayasuriya shines again The left-arm spinner got another in the very next over, managing to entrap Nayeem Hasan into moving out of his crease. Wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis had a quick response and whisked off the bails that further compounded the misery of Bangladesh. Jayasuriya continued his rampage as he sent Taijul Islam back in his third over of the day to finish his five-wicket haul. Tharindu Ratnayake (2/19) wrapped up the match with a leg before wicket dismissal of Ebadot Hossain 6 off 7 deliveries and Bangladesh were all out 133 in a mere 44.2 overs. Pacer Asitha Fernando (1/22) and captain Dhananjaya de Silva (2/13) were also wicket-takers as Sri Lanka started their 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) on a winning note by winning the series. The first innings during which Pathum Nissanka battered the ball to all sides of the park with some exquisite strokes and smashed 158 runs with 19 boundaries included his best was titled Player of the Match. He was also the Player of the Series winner after leading the runs standings with 369 runs over three innings at an average of 123 with two centuries. Najmul Hossain Shanto steps down Pathum Nissanka had previously registered a dominant 187 runs in the first knock of the draw Test in Galle earlier in the series. In the meantime, after Bangladesh lost the series, its captain Najmul Hossain Shanto resigned. Nonetheless, Shanto had impressed in his debut performance in the first test with both centuries in the match which made him the first Bangladesh player to record more than two centuries.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Pant's on fire: Rudraneil Sengupta on India's fearless Test batter
Who is India's most successful Test batter today? Rishabh Pant during the Test series against England this week. (AFP) If not for his exuberant twin centuries in India's first Test against England this week, Rishabh Pant might not have been the most obvious answer to that question. Yet, it is him. This compact bundle of fast-twitch muscle fibre with a maverick batting style that can be deceptively technical or totally outrageous, but is always defined by a sense of freedom and joy, stands a mile apart from all other Indian batters. Since his debut in 2018, Pant has scored 3,200 runs at an average of nearly 45 and a strike rate just above 74. That's better than the now-retired Virat Kohli, who, with 2,140 runs, comes in second (others such as KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma all have aggregates far lower than 2,000 runs). Pant's strike rate is audacious too (everyone else in the top five has a strike rate in the 40s). What a joy to see the 27-year-old storm the stage as he is doing. If the Test series in England proves anything, it is this: India's new Test generation is packed with fantastic batting talent, and Kohli and Sharma's retirements have helped, not hurt, the team, by allowing this next generation to blossom. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Gill and Rahul all proved they have what it takes to achieve true Test greatness: the temperament and technique. If Pant was doing his uniquely destructive and freewheeling dance at one end, Jaiswal, Gill and Rahul were the epitome of poise and classical correctness, marked by one gorgeous drive after another. All sport thrives on such diversity. It is Bharatnatyam meets Breaking. Pant announced his batting prowess soon after making his Test debut, when he became the first Indian wicketkeeper to score a century in Australia, in January 2019. His career-changing knock came in the Sydney Test in the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy series, where he not only helped India survive the final day and earn a draw, but hit back with a rapid, roaring 97 off 118 balls. Then he outdid himself: in the next Test on the infamous pitch at The Gabba, he led a highly depleted Indian squad to victory with a frenzied, unbeaten 89 on the final day of the Test, to overcome the Aussie total, in a match that went down as one of the most improbable chases in Test cricket history. Now, Pant is truly building his legacy. The twin centuries have made him the first Indian and only the second wicketkeeper in the world (after Andy Flower) to score centuries in both innings of a Test in England. His match aggregate of 252 (134 and 118) is the highest by any Indian wicketkeeper in a Test. His four Test hundreds in England bring him at par with Sachin Tendulkar and Dilip Vengsarkar, and behind only Rahul Dravid (six), when it comes to Indian centurions in England. It is possible he will not only equal Dravid's record by the end of the series, but surpass it. A less-important but very Pant statistic is that the nine sixes he hit in the second innings also equals the record for most sixes in an innings by any batter in England (putting him at par with Andrew Flintoff and Ben Stokes on this front). There are few things more seductive in cricket than the combination of superb skill and a maverick attitude and, in this, Pant follows in the footsteps of giants such as Viv Richards (swaggering onto the field chewing gum, a rakishly angled cap instead of a helmet on his head), Shoaib Akhtar (a run-up that started near the boundary, long hair flying, a missile of a delivery, and Akhtar wheeling away in 'airplane' celebration) and Steve Smith (all Chaplinesque twitches and ticks, but one of the greatest batting techniques in the history of the game). Pant brings with him his nutty rolling-and-tumbling scoop shot, brings up his century with a one-handed six (in the first innings in the first Test), does backflips to celebrate milestones, steps out to hit the most ferocious bowlers like their reputations mean nothing, and smiles impishly through it all. 'It is hard for us to understand the mindset,' Rahul told reporters, after the first Test, 'but you let Rishabh Pant be Rishabh Pant. There is obviously… a lot of thought behind the outrageous shots he plays.' Pant is just the maverick Indian cricket needs. (To reach Rudraneil Sengupta with feedback, email rudraneil@
