Tuesday, April 7, 2009

India's fine slip fielders - Rahul Dravid



I am busy with my work but recently i had taken a oath to write more blogs. In this schedule i couldn't have continued without mentioning the record Rahul Dravid broke in the 3rd Test against NZ at Wellington. It was the wicket of Ian Mcintosh that put him past Mark Waugh record as the most number of catches. 182 catches in 135 tests is the new record held by Dravid.

In test cricket slip cordons play an important role and we normally don't expect butter fingers fielding there. To be a good slip fielder it takes lots of concentration because one odd ball will come to. I would rather dismiss the statement made by mark Waugh claiming that he is not a natural fielder ,Dravid to me has done well in the slips. To me its all about the number of catches taken against the number of balls that has come to you. If this percentage is higher he obviously is a very good fielder. The 'X' factor is u might only get one ball in the field all day and you've got to catch it an inch off the ground. That's a concentration thing, switching on and off between deliveries. This record will hold for a very long period of time as people behind are very far off. Hats of to him to achieve the new record in test record.

5 comments:

Umamaheswaran said...

Hi SRihari,
SEcond you dude! Dravid is an exceptional slip fielder, but the statement that Mark waugh was probably trying to make was Dravid ewvolved as a superb slip fielder during the course of his career. Mark waugh's fieleding was like sachin's batting .. Dravid was never a naturally gifted slippie as mark who would nonchalantly take a blinder at slip and slowly roll the ball to the square leg umpire :) .. I think we should take Waugh's comments as an accolade here

Srihari said...

Yeah Dravid rather evolved unlike Mark who is a gifted slip fielder. Actually what i hear is that people see India to be a not so good at fielding to which i can't say no. But India is improving and setting high standards in the field.

sagopal said...

Sorry to be against ,

I remember Dravid dropping more catches than holding on to it. :-)

he missed half the catch/stumping chances . he used to somehow ridicule me as a keeper. It would have been great if Dhoni had been 2007 world cup captain for India, india would not have cut such a sorry figure in WestIndies.

Looks like Mark Taylor catch-% beats dravid's pretty comfortably. poor Mark!

More test matches + slip fielding = more catches. By looking at the records Except for BC Lara , everyone's record is >= Dravid's

I think the stats are missing one important thing . I see that they are looking only into the no# of inngs played by the person. Should also take into a/c the number of chances he had - i know we dont have this data - but that would be fair judgement.

Coz Ponting's catch % might be less , EX : maybe he was in a widish slip quadrant & most catches went to first/second slip.

you see what i mean ?? :-)

Srihari said...

The stats were not that elaborate to convince me. Rather i wouldn't even make a statement on Dravid as a keeper. Please that is out of topic and all his stumping that was missed was just because we didn't then have a good keeper.

I don't have the exact statics on this ratio but i can confidently say that his ratio is up with Taylor and Mark Waugh.

Please do let me know if you have the stats that would be really helpful, i didn't find one for myself to argue.

I agree with you that it depends on the number of innings a player has played. But not all the 10 catches are coming to Dravid. Indians when Kumble is bowling i can see wickets only Leg before , bowled and caught at short leg. So basically all your stats of More test matches + slip fielding = more catches doesn't hold good here.

Can't suggest if Dravid is the best slip fielder ( its a subjective analysis ), but surely, & unarguably, he has been one of the best ever. U dont take more than 170 odd catches by fluke.

sagopal said...

You got me wrong in the first place.

I meant that it doesnt just depend on the number of innings played , but should take into account the number of chances one had.

I have already asserted the point that you were trying to make by taking Ponting as an ex.

All stats are in cricinfo.let me know if you need the links.