"There are no excuses" - When Gautam Gambhir called out India's poor catching at Edgbaston during 2011 tour of England

Team India put together one of their worst fielding displays during the recently concluded first Test against England at Headingley, Leeds. The visitors altogether put down as many as six matches, which played a massive role in the final result, where Ben Stokes and co. emerged triumphant by five wickets.

Poor fielding, especially overseas, had been a common theme for India, until a dedicated effort to improve the overall standards and not rely on individualistic brilliance was made during Virat Kohli's reign as captain. England is a tricky place for a fielder from the visiting team due to the cold conditions, the Duke's ball, and other factors.

Team India had endured a dreadful tour of England in 2011, losing 0-4 to the Andrew Strauss-led side. The series scoreline was evidence enough that the team were dismal across all three departments. One of the low points came after MS Dhoni and co. suffered a mammoth defeat by an innings and 242 runs.

England had posted 710-7 in the first innings courtesy of Alastair Cook's marathon 294-run knock. During the innings, the Men spilled four chances, with their most reliable fielder, Rahul Dravid, being responsible for two of them.

Gautam Gambhir had addressed the poor fielding, citing poor concentration as a factor.

"There are no excuses. It is a matter of concentration. All teams drop catches; these things happen in cricket but I can't tell you exactly why it is happening," Gambhir said (via ESPN Cricinfo).

Team India slowly went on to make a radical decision of dropping senior players, despite their impressive batting credentials, to inject youth into the team and improve the energy and fielding standards.

"None of them did it on purpose" - Gautam Gambhir on Team India's dropped chances in ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test

Current Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir had defended the Men in Blue's fielding display after the five-wicket loss. All three of England's top scorers in the first innings, Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, and Ollie Pope, were dropped in close quarters, while a similar story unfolded in the second innings as well.

“Catches do get dropped. The best fielders have missed catches. None of them did it on purpose,” Gambhir told reporters during the post-match press conference (via First Post).

The second Test between the two heavyweights will be held at Edgbaston, Birmingham, from Wednesday, July 2, onwards.

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Edited by Gokul Nair