An international cricket ground is a big space and if you put 11 lively men on it, the space can shrink radically. India, in their two World Cup fixtures so far, have showcased that quality with an electric battery of fielders holding on to their catches and affecting game changing run-outs. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that they simply out-fielded their opponent at the MCG on Sunday. If Mohammad Shami held on to a catch to dismiss Hashim Amla and made it look easy, it was Mohit Sharma’s speed and agility that ran AB de Villiers out at a crucial juncture of the match. Both dismissals brought a smile to India’s fielding coach R Sridhar, who like any other day, was making notes and keeping a close tab of his troops on the field. Much of credit for India’s fielding success goes to Sridhar who has been tirelessly working with the team to get better in a skill that India is not traditionally known for. With this young setup, Sridhar is of the view that this is probably India’s best fielding unit till date and there is an undying hunger in this team to be called the best fielding team in the world. How have the 11 on the field transformed themselves, worked in partnerships and converted themselves into a pack of hyenas ready to pounce on anything that is within their sight? We try to find out as India’s fielding coach gets into the nitty-gritties of fielding in an exclusive chat with bcci.tv. Excerpts from the interview How do you think fielding has evolved over the years? A few years back fielding was not treated as a primary skill but now it is. The players now know that they can be a good batsman or a good bowler, but if they don’t back it up with good fielding they will be struggling to make it to the playing eleven. The mindset of the players has changed over the years and they have started treating it as a primary skill. Today fielding is probably No. 2 in terms of crowd appeal. Crowds like to see the big shots but the next big thing they like is some alacrity on the field. Fielding is a skill in which if you work hard the improvement can be seen. It is controllable. What holds key to building a potent fielding side? The biggest challenge is to win the trust of the players, which doesn’t happen overnight. You need to strike a rapport with the players and know the person in terms of what is best suited for him. Once the player believes what you are saying is going to work for him and will make him a better fielder, the process becomes simpler. I don’t coach the player, I coach the person. Once you connect with the individual, teaching the skill becomes easier. Also, fielding is a mindset. The key to be a good fielder is to come with a mindset wherein you think ‘I want to be the best fielder on the field.’ There is a mindset that has been developed in this team and much of the credit goes to the vibrant captaincy of MS Dhoni. What kinds of drills help the players to be agile? We do reaction drills with tennis balls and soft balls and we create a ‘time stress’ for the players. In those drills the players have less time to react and when you create time-stress the agility and reaction improves. Then there are speed drills, wherein we go one on one with the ones who are fielding on the outfield where the speed to the ball is important. We identify each fielder as to where he is going to be fielding in most part of his game and design a drill for that player accordingly. How do you prepare fielding sides according to the dimensions of different grounds? We stick to working on the fundamentals and keeping it simple irrespective of the grounds we are going to play on. In this case field placements become more important. For example, there is a big difference between Adelaide and Melbourne. In Adelaide, the straight boundaries are big but the sides are small whereas it is the other way round at the MCG. We had our best fielders placed accordingly. We had Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami and Mohit Sharma placed there since they have a good arm and their speed towards the ball is commendable. Also, having a person like MS Dhoni there makes it easier. Dhoni is spot-on when it comes to field placements, depth of the fielders, high traffic zones where you have your best fielders, understanding the depth and the angles and knowing the distance between two fielders. Where you stand and how deep you stand differs from venue to venue. All our fielders know their field positions and are alert and focused on the match dynamics. They read the match situations well and understand the strong points of the batsman at the crease. We speak about this before the game and the more you keep doing it, it becomes a part of your instinct. Fielding is about identifying who has got the best reaction skills, the best diving skills, the best arm speed etc. According to that you post them on the ground. India play at Perth and next in smaller grounds in New Zealand. Do you also prepare fielders in different positions according to different venues? We are blessed to have fielders who can field in any position. For all you know we may also see Umesh Yadav at point because he is quite a good fielder. We know Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan are amongst the best we have in the slips. Shikhar has great hands and Raina, as we all know, is an all-round fielder and you will hardly see a blip in his fielding. What we do is try and simulate match conditions in our practice sessions. We use a center practice wicket and hit balls in the deep wherein the fielders can understand the angles to catch, field and throw. The best part of fielding is that each position has a different mindset. In this team what we try and tell is, get an approach of a point fielder so that you are aggressive all the time no matter which position you are fielding at. This team wants to show intent and aggression on the field. With lush green grounds in Australia and New Zealand, have you worked with the team on sliding while fielding a ball? All the boys in this side are willing to slide and are good at it. These boys have grown up on better outfields and most of them know how to slide when they come to this level. The BCCI has done a wonderful job at the grass-root level by making excellent grounds across India which have, in a way, helped in improving fielding standards of the side. Sliding also is a mindset; it is an easy thing to do provided you want to do it. It is like standing close-in, the most important mindset you need while standing close-in is courage. You can have the best reactions, the best reflexes but if you don’t want to stand there or you are reluctant, you won’t catch. In this team everybody dives and slides well. We are working on Axar Patel’s slide. He slides on his other leg. He slides in such a way that he picks the ball with his right hand whereas ideally you want him to pick the ball with his left so that he can release the ball quickly. It is one aspect that we are working on and he is a terrific student of the game. He is picking it up really well and it is a work in progress. We talk about footwork in batting, how important is footwork when it comes to fielding? There is phrase which I like to use - ‘You catch with your eyes and throw with your feet’. What I mean is your feet are the first part of your body that moves towards the target when you are setting yourself up for a throw. The feet give you the balance to catch; if you are not balanced enough you are not judging the ball because your eyes are moving. Balance and vision are very important in fielding. Good balance gives you a good vision. It is like having a tripod for your camera so that the picture is nice and stable. Your eyes are the camera of your body and when your eyes are moving you are not judging the ball well, your brain doesn’t get the correct signal. Footwork is the most important aspect of fielding. It is the feet that are going to determine how well you are going to execute your skill. We work on the footwork on the ground to get the feet moving properly while catching and throwing, just like the drills in batting. Usually fast bowlers aren’t considered to be the best of fielders, what’s your take on that? It isn’t so necessarily. The best part of our team is that the fast bowlers that we have are all athletic and good fielders and you don’t need to find places to hide them. They have good throwing arms and their speed to the ball is excellent. This makes it easier for MS Dhoni when it comes to field placements and you don’t feel the need to hide them. For example, Mohammad Shami has worked very hard on his fielding. He took an excellent catch against South Africa to dismiss Hashim Amla. That ball was flying over his head and he had to run back and hold on to it. A very common thing with such catches is that the ball bursts through your hand and loops over the boundary. He showed good, strong hands and was aware of the boundary rope at the same time. That is the trait of a good fielder. Good fielders make difficult catches look easy. The best thing about our fast bowlers is despite bowling all out in the nets, they never miss out on a fielding session. Even if is a 12-minute individual work out, they do it. They have worked their skins off to become good fielders. Talking about the South Africa game, that Mohit Sharma run-out would have impressed you. (Laughs) Just one over before that run-out I was sitting with Duncan Fletcher and having a discussion about the position of the game. Duncan asked me who is going to affect the first run-out and I said I don’t care where it comes from but it will. AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis were running like hares and we had a feeling that we could well have a run-out. Almost immediately Mohit Sharma got that run-out. Mohit is an amazing outfielder. What I like about him is the effort. He gives it all, chases the ball even if it is out of his reach and that is the kind of commitment you need. Unless you give it your best, you will never know what you can achieve. We always tell our players not to underestimate themselves by giving up on the ball. Give it your best shot, you may not stop the ball but by giving it your best you realise where you can reach the next time. You can gauge how much you can stop and you stop a few more balls and discover yourself. The idea in this team is to help the player find his potential and discover himself. How important are fielding partnerships? Very important. Fielding is one part of the game where you have the whole team together on the field. It is an enjoyable aspect of the game and we try and bring that buzz factor in our fielding. Players like Raina, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have a lot of energy on the field and keep the side up on their toes. Communication between fielders keeps the energy up in the side. It is also important to know the strengths and weaknesses of your fellow fielders. If I know I have Shami to my left, who has just bowled an over, I have to be aware that I have to cover up for him a little bit. On such long grueling tours, how do you manage workloads of each player? I take note of every single ball during a match and at the end of the day I know how many deliveries each player has fielded and how many throws they have made. According to that we work in the nets and manage their workload. We ration it in such a way that their shoulder is well taken care of. Apart from that I take down things like momentum changes, unforced errors etc., so that we can work on those aspects before the next game. Do you think this Indian side is by far the best fielding unit? Absolutely. We have a fit and agile fielding unit. I believe this Indian team is one of the most agile ones over the years. It is a top-class fielding side. The most important components in fielding are quick reflexes so you can dive and stop the ball, strong and soft hands for the catches, speed to the ball for the fielders who are in the boundary and a powerful throwing arm. We have a good combination of all four. Imagine a Jadeja at point, Ajinkya Rahane at covers, Raina at slips or extra cover, Virat Kohli at mid-off and imagine the pressure on a batsman to take a single.