“Ab Udar Marro!!” Harmanpreet Kaur said loudly after the fielding coach Munish Bali cracked a shot a little too hard, with the ball crossing the boundary rope straight down the ground, at the ICC Academy. Harmanpreet, the designated fielder at that position, attempted to pouch the catch, but to no avail. From her voice, it seemed like a mixture of sarcasm, alongside a light-hearted joke.
It so happened that the fielding coach smashed the next shot exactly where Harmanpreet had previously mentioned — a little more towards the long-off region. For a couple of seconds, one wondered whether Harmanpreet would grass that particular chance. However, an agile Harmanpreet dashed towards her left, dived forward and took an impressive catch. For a few minutes, she was lying on the ground, as the rest of her teammates cheered her. That particular effort capsulised Harmanpreet’s zest to improve her fielding skills.
The Indian skipper, Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rordigues were probably the best of the lot in what turned out to be an extended fielding session ahead of India’s crucial T20 World Cup fixture versus New Zealand. Unfortunately, there were quite a few dropped catches too. It almost felt as if the girls were struggling to adjust to the floodlights. A couple of players misjudged the direction of the ball and a few easy catches were fluffed.
To cut some slack, the Indian squad didn’t exactly train or play practice matches under lights in their camp in Bengaluru. The counter argument to that would be the Indian team has come under scrutiny for grassing chances and misfields over a period of time. Even in the Asia Cup final versus Sri Lanka and during the warm-up matches before the World Cup, India’s fielding was a bit below par. It is imperative for them to ameliorate their fielding as soon as possible.
The fielding session was followed by a wicket-keeping session. All three ‘keepers, including Richa Ghosh, Yastika Bhatia and Uma Chetry, one of the reserve players, had brief stints. The threesome did a fairly decent job, especially when the ball was coming towards their right side. Among the troika, Uma seems to have soft hands.
There was something else to observe during the training session. Pooja Vastrakar, the pace-bowling all-rounder, was doing a few fitness drills on the sidelines and she also practised with a medicine ball. Most likely those drills were merely a precautionary measure. Also, a pacer generally uses the medicine ball to build core strength.
It has to be remembered that Pooja is India’s key hit-the-deck pace bowler. Such kind of bowling can be a thankless job, given the stress it puts on the body. And there could always be a niggle or two around. As it is said — fast bowlers basically sign up for injuries.
So, what could be the larger picture of India’s training session? Maybe there was a good amount of camaraderie in the camp. To ram home the point, when anyone grassed a chance, a few others were trying to motivate that player. And when Harmanpreet grabbed a stunner, there were enough claps from the rest of the players.
Practice session is the sweaty workshop where players chase greatness. For about 90 minutes, the members of the Indian women’s squad were trying to touch a higher level of fielding standards, with the main purpose being to lift the coveted trophy on October 20.