Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], February 20 : India's bowling coach Morne Morkel has stressed the growing importance of sharp fielding and clutch catching as the team heads into the decisive phase of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, admitting that lapses in the field can heavily influence match outcomes.
Speaking about India's recent fielding concerns during the pre-match conference ahead of their first Super Eight clash against South Africa, Morkel said the team has been putting in extra effort to tighten up its work on the field, particularly in cutting down angles to prevent twos and stopping boundaries.
"One thing that we work hard on is our fielding. We know the importance of the catches, wherever we can cut down angles to stop the twos, to stop any boundaries. But catching is definitely going to play a big part now in the business end of the tournament," Morkel said.
India has faced scrutiny over missed opportunities in recent matches, with dropped catches and misfields proving costly.
India's most recent win against the Netherlands saw Zach Lion-Cachet given two lives, first after a miscommunication between captain Suryakumar Yadav and Rinku Singh led to a collision and a dropped catch, and then again when Tilak Verma spilt another opportunity in the final over.
India still managed to defeat the Netherlands by 17 runs, completing a perfect group-stage run, but the repeated errors have added an unwanted layer of concern before tougher opponents arrive.
Morkel, however, acknowledged that while no catch is ever truly easy, the team is committed to improving its consistency.
Team India has dropped as many as nine catches in the ongoing T20 World Cup, which is the second most by any team in the tournament, behind only Ireland (10).
"Unfortunately, no catch is an easy catch, and the boys are putting the yards in and catching a lot of balls. But that's definitely one of our key focus points, is to really even go for those 50-50 ones, because we know how that can swing and break the momentum of a batting innings," he added.
After remaining unbeaten in Group A, the defending champions will head into the Super 8s with a high-voltage clash against South Africa on February 22.