5th ODI: R Sridhar expects fielders to stay steady in windy conditions

R Sridhar

Their on-field effort was below-par during the five-wicket defeat against South Africa in the fourth ODI, but India's fielding coach R Sridhar expects his players to be more cautious as cross-winds in the port city during the penultimate match could make catching difficult.

Port Elizabeth is known as the windy city, as it sits right on the coast of Nelson Mandela Bay. Although clouds are expected to clear today, there is high possibility of wind playing a factor. "Definitely, we will take that into consideration. That is something that is important, especially for high balls. You have to keep that into account as it comes under your awareness.

"No matter where you are fielding on the boundary line, you need to be aware which way the wind is blowing," Sridhar said during the pre-match conference. The Indian fielding has been generally poor on the tour so far and Sridhar had to admit that Virat Kohli's men were off the mark during the fourth ODI.

"We were a little below par on the field in the last game. One catch went down, Shreyas Iyer being the brilliant fielder that he is, made a great attempt. It was not a Grade 1 catch, but it's easy to be harsh on ourselves sometimes and easy to be harsh on our players. It's the easiest thing to do. But if you see, that was a difficult catch," Sridhar said.

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