The body language seemed flat: Ravi Shastri slams Team India for sloppy fielding vs Nepal in Asia Cup tie

Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri slammed Rohit Sharma & Co. for their sloppy fielding effort in their last group stage match versus Nepal, in Kandy, during the Asia Cup 2023 edition on Monday (September 04). After their tournament-opener versus Pakistan ended with rain having the final sayon September 02 (Saturday), India faced Nepal for the first time ever during the final game of Group A. While India won by ten wicketsin a rain-marred contest, their bowlers were stretched for a considerable period with India's fielding being below-par.

Thus, during the match, Shastri -- the former cricketer who is part of the commentary panel in Asia Cup 2023 -- criticised India as they dropped three easy catches at the beginning of the game and remained sloppy with overthrows and misfields.

'It took those three catches to wake them up'

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"The approach, at the very beginning, those catches going down. The body language seemed flat. It took those three catches to wake them up. By that time their openers were going well, Jadeja came and stemmed the rot," Shastri said on Star Sports.

The likes of Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli, and Ishan Kishan dropped easy catches in the initial overs after India asked Nepal to bat first. As a result, Nepal openers Aasif Sheikh (58) and Kushal Bhurtel (38) stitched an impressive 66-run opening stand. While Ravindra Jadeja (3 for 38) and Shardul Thakur dented Nepal's progress and reduced them to 144 for 6, their lower order propelled them to 230 all-out in 48.2 overs.

Shastri further opined, "Put in to bat which had a little bit of moisture and had something for the fast bowlers, I think Nepal did an outstanding job. They will take that score. They went after the bowling. They hit those sixes. Immediately 50 was on the board and the confidence was rubbed off on the middle-order and the lower order. This showed in the last five overs that showed there. It's great." He added, "From Nepal's point of view, just think of the crowd that came here. The first time the Indian crowd has been outnumbered."

Eventually, India got a revised target of 145 in 23 overs and chased it down without dropping much sweat courtesy of captain Rohit's unbeaten 74 and Shubman Gill giving him good support with a fine 67 not out. India have managed to enter the Super Four -- where they will open their campaign versus Pakistan on September 10 -- but they have their task cut out in the field.

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