India's new Test captain, Shubman Gill, is facing a lot of criticism after the team's five-wicket defeat against England in the first Test match of the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy 2025. India suffered a humiliating defeat against England despite five centurians because of poor fielding; the Men in Blue dropped at least eight catches in the opening clash of the mega event.
Former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Brad Haddin believes that skipper Gill should be held responsible for raising the fielding standards of the team.
Despite impressive performance with bat in both innings, India were made to pay for the blunders on the field behind a profligate pace attack that struggled to assist spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. Chasing down a mammoth total of 371, England were led by Ben Duckett’s scintillating 149 in the fourth innings. The southpaw opener was dropped in both innings of the match, while tallying 211 runs and was later awarded the Player of the Match.
Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast, former Australia wicket-keeper Haddin felt the Indian skipper needed to lay down the marker for his side to follow in terms of being a dominant team on the field.
“Every great team, no matter what year you’re playing, the one standout feature they’ve always had is that they’ve been a great fielding team. And I think that is one legacy Gill has start to leave now on this team. He needs an attitude adjustment,” said Haddin.
Haddin also indirectly blamed the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 for dropped catches in the first Test.
“If you want to field well and compete the whole time, it’s only attitude. You can do all your technical work off the field and have as many coaches as anyone, but it won’t matter. Even in the IPL this year, the catching was horrible. And that could be a byproduct,” he added.
Team India are currently in Birmingham preparing for the second Test match, which will take place at Edgbaston Stadium from 2-6 July.
England Men's Test squad for 2nd Test: Ben Stokes (capt), Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.