'Poor' Outfield in Dharamsala Back in Focus As Indian Players Avoid Diving On It
On Sunday, the poor outfield at the HPCA stadium was back in focus as most of the Indian players shied away from sliding to avoid potential injuries in their Cricket World Cup match against New Zealand in Dharmashala. The captain of the Indian cricket team, Rohit Sharma, made a sliding effort and hurt his little finger early on in the New Zealand innings, forcing him to leave the field for treatment. He, however, returned later to lead the side. And then in the 35th over, Jasprit Bumrah decided against diving at the fine-leg boundary while chasing the ball, giving away a boundary to New Zealand skipper Tom Latham.The outfield here has come under constant criticism, with the captain of the England cricket team, Jos Buttler, terming it "poor" before their World Cup match against Bangladesh.The observation of Buttler came after the coach of Afghanistan, Jonathan Trott, expressed his displeasure over the outfield at the venue after their match against Bangladesh.Buttler had said, "It's poor, in my opinion."I think any time you're sort of talking about being careful diving or sort of being careful when you're fielding, it sort of goes against everything you want to be as a team.