Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar has urged the selectors and team management to drop average fielders after the T20I series against Zimbabwe. Gavaskar said a captain can not hide three-four players in the field.

India registered a comprehensive 3-0 win against Zimbabwe but the visitors were sloppy in the field. Mayank Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi all dropped catches on Sunday.

Overall, India dropped 10 catches in the three-match series and caught 18. Thus, the visitors had a catching efficiency of 64.2%.

Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar, “It’s mandatory that if a player is an average fielder, he has to be shown the door. There is simply no way a captain has to hide three or four players, hoping the ball won’t go anywhere near them.”

The Little Master also questioned Indian batters’s shot selection on the England tour. India suffered a 0-4 T20I series loss against England and then suffered a 1-2 series in the ODI series.

“Shot selection is very important and here the batter has to rein in his ego and not try to live up to an image, but play the ball on its merits. Yes, in the ultra-short format, the T20, it is not easy to do so as big shots are needed virtually every other delivery. But it is different in the ODI format, where there is time for a short period of settling down before the power shots are unfurled,” said Gavaskar (via the aforementioned source).

“It’s necessary to play smart cricket. So, figure out the bowler who doesn’t need to be counter-attacked. Then target the bowlers against whom you can make up for the quiet over from the better bowler. No team in the world has five top bowlers, and there will always be eight to 12 overs in a T20 game where the runs can be looted. Similarly, in the 50-over format, a little patience won’t hurt even if the team is chasing a big score like 380-plus.”

India will next take on Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series.