India had many positives after their loss to England in the series opener at Headingley, Leeds, but one glaring issue going into the second game in Birmingham is their fielding. Although India's ground fielding was still excellent, their catching was, to put it mildly, terrible. In crucial moments of the game, the Indian fielders collaborated to miss eight catches. Even if they had kept half of them, the outcome might have been quite different. Unbelievably, one person, Yashasvi Jaiswal, dropped four of those eight catches. Although Jaiswal struck a superb century in his debut innings in England, his final impression from the game would be of him dancing in front of the English audience after missing Ben Duckett on 97.

Jaiswal received criticism, however former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and former England pacer Stuart Broad's opinions were almost harsh, even though everyone else was using their intellect to make their assessments. The choice was criticized by former India fielding coach R. Sridhar, who stressed that fielding in England is not simple. Jaiswal got Ben Duckett out for 15, Ollie Pope for 60, and Harry Brook for 83 in the first innings, and Duckett once more fell three runs short of a century in the second.

"It's not simple to adjust and be a decent slip fielder after going on the initial trip to England. Even if you practice as much as you like, it's still very tough in the game. The fingers become quite numb due to the extreme cold. Secondly, the Duke's ball bounces around quite a bit as it approaches you. "It's not easy to catch," Sridhar informed Sportstar.

"Seeing is quite challenging in England. Two of the most difficult venues are Leeds and the Oval. The Kirkstall Lane end of Leeds is lower than the pavilion side due to the city's slope. And it's really windy, which throws off your sense of rhythm and depth. Even England had drops. Sometimes it has to do with circumstances rather than talent.

Gavaskar described India's fielding as "not Test class" and encouraged the team to skip the optional sessions and go to practice instead. Broad, meanwhile, was a bit more critical, saying, "Crucially, and I mean this in the kindest possible way, they have to take their catches." You can't expect them to throw three or four of them on the ground when you're trying to take a test match with ten wickets.

Jaiswal is defended by Sirdhar

"He [Jaiswal] is actually an excellent gully fielder. Make no mistake," was Sridhar's revealing response to that. He's only had two bad games—one in Melbourne and one here in Leeds. Aside from that, he's been fantastic. His catches against Bangladesh in Kanpur were superb. It's simple to pass judgement from the commentary box, but these are difficult circumstances, and for many of them, it's their first time in this setting," he told Sportstar.

"It has occurred twice. He [Jaiswal] has traveled that path where he dropped one, and then he ended up dropping two or three. It occurred previously in Melbourne. It's happened once more. This is what he has to work on. In a separate interview with RevSportz, he stated that he thought he should concentrate on healing from the error aspect of his fielding.

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