'India may drop the World Cup...': Mohammad Kaif's cautions Dravid, Rohit with blazing post despite win in 1st AUS ODI
Kaif has sent a word of caution to Rohit and Dravid saying that India might lose the World Cup as he pointed out a glaring error in their preparation.
Team India might be looking like a brutal force head ahead of the ODI World Cup, having won the Asia Cup title last week before beating Australia comprehensively on Friday in Mohali to grab the top spot in ICC Men's ODI rankings. However, India great Mohammad Kaif has sent a word of caution to captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid saying that India might lose the World Cup as he pointed out a glaring error in their preparation.
India may have been among the best bowling side, especially with the fast bowlers picking up five-wicket hauls at will, and has a star-studded batting line-up with Virat Kohli and Rohit leading the show along with an in-form Shubman Gill. But Kaif feels that India still need to improve on their fielding.
India's struggles with the fielding were evident during the Asia Cup tournament itself, but the wins never allowed veterans and experts to dwell on the topic. On Friday, India committed another major error with Shreyas Iyer dropping an easy catch to allow David Warner to survive at 14.
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The Aussie opener looked to drive the fuller one from Shardul Thakur straight towards extra cover, but instead chipped it to mid-on after the delivery had stopped on him. It was a simple chance for Iyer to hand India a second breakthrough early on, but instead dropped it after trying to take it reverse-cupped.
Warner later went on to score a fifty for Australia, but his efforts went in vain as India managed a five-wicket win in Mohali. And while the dropped catch was overlooked owing to the win, Kaif was quick in pointing it word with a blazing post.
He wrote: “Caution: India may drop the World Cup if they don’t catch well. Batting and bowling can win matches but so can catches.”
India still have two more games and two World Cup warm-up matches to test their fielding skill and improve on it before the big tournament begins.
The second ODI will be played on September 24 while the final tie will be played on September 27.
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