Team India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has heaped praised on fielding coach T Dilip for his work behind the scenes and improving team India's fielding standards.
Speaking to press post match, Ashwin said,“ If you want to talk about fielding, where should we start? Let's talk about Dilip sir first. Actually, we’d searched for our fielding coach on Google and he turned out to be an internet personality. So unfair. He is not an internet personality. He is our celebrity fielding coach, a superstar."
The veteran cricketer also highlighted T Dilip's role in shaping good close-in fielders like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan while praising the youngsters for working hard with the fielding coach. He said that the hard work reflected in the way India caught in the close-in region in the first Test against Bangladesh.
Dilip, who took over during Rahul Dravid's tenure as head coach, was retained and he has continued to work under Gautam Gambhir-led support staff. Dilip was instrumental in creating the much-talked-about 'fielding medal' which has been a regular fixture after India's games.
R Ashwin also heaped praise on Yashasvi Jaiswal's fielding effort during the match which resulted in him taking two great catches. He said, "Slip catching was a bit of a challenge a year or two ago. But Jaiswal has shown improvement in slip-catching in the last year or two from the series in South Africa. He has made a very good catch here at the second slip as well"
“Close-in catching, in places like short-leg, is a very difficult thing. You don't get good fielders like this. Jaiswal himself volunteers and stands up. He also does head-to-head work. So, all in all, we didn't get to see Dilip Sir's name not getting mentioned more prominently,” he added.
