Good to have seniors as close-in fielders, says Robin Singh

Adelaide, January 21: This one promises to be even bigger than Miss Saigon —- the ‘sumptuous, sizzling and spectacular’ blockbuster running in this festival week here. The bigger attraction will be starting on Thursday — just a few metres from the city opera house —- at the Adelaide Oval Cricket ground. The fourth Test match starts in this city of churches and Chappells, and the legacy of Sir Don Bradman. The Don’s last years and his cricketing feat are well documented in the museum here.

And after recording his first duck in Tests, Michael Hussey is back at his “favourite ground” where he averages 315 in the two Test matches.

Hussey acknowledges the work of Indian bowlers but warns the Australian team is determined to move on and hit back in Adelaide. “You can’t go forever without losing. We’ve got to move on and look forward to Adelaide. They (Indian seamers) are good bowlers and, like any other bowler in the world, you treat them with respect. They had their day against us in Perth. We never underestimate any bowler and we treat whoever we are playing against with the utmost respect. We prepare very, very well against every team,” he said.

With this wicket expected to take turn, it will be the spinners who are expected to call the shots. So once again, it will be a crowded close-in area, and the combination of ‘Kumble-Dravid’ coming to the fore a lot more. Dravid is joint second with Stephen Fleming at 166, in catches taken, and is not very far off from 181 of Mark Taylor. India’s fielding coach Robin Singh provided another interesting aspect to this new world order of ‘c Dravid b Kumble’.

“Rahul Dravid, I believe, happens to be our best close-in fielder. Fielding has a lot to do with experience. A younger guy may not be able to judge the bounce coming off Anil’s bowling. Rahul, VVS and Sachin have all played for a long time with him. Rahul have also played with him in south zone matches, so there’s a lot more familiarity which is important,” said Robin.

Dravid too admitted that being in slips for Kumble was great challenge. “The ball comes pretty quickly, sometimes it sticks, sometimes not. It’s a great challenge and I love these little challenges and who doesn’t want his name to be added to a record?” Dravid asked with a smile? The former Indian skipper has held 54 catches to Kumble.

... contd.

Ads By Google

Message*	Maximum characters allowed

Name*		Email ID*
Subject*		Country*

TERMS OF USE:
The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).

I agree to the terms of use.

Mail this page