Sri Lanka vs India 2017: 5 questions India need to answer in the ODI series

#2 When will India live up to the 'excellent fielding' tag?

India have been surprisingly below par in the field

We need to tighten our fielding to compete hard against the best teams. I would give our fielding 6/10, and that also, I would give all 6 points to Ravindra Jadeja: Kohli (after India's opening game of ICC Champions Trophy 2017)

Kohli, Dhoni, Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey...

This isn’t a fielding lineup that warrants a speck of doubt. In fact, it paints an intimidating picture in the eyes of the opposition: a picture where a speeding ball is stopped dead in its tracks, and hurled at the stumps by blue, blurry forms: over after over, match after match.

Yet, India has failed to live up to the hype created around its fielding, more so in the past few months. It’s not that players are not throwing themselves around and affecting impossible looking run-outs.

However, they’ve made a mess of straightforward chances lately, missing running and diving catches that you expect them to grab. Direct hits from 30 yards have gone a-begging, and bowlers have even forgotten to back incoming wayward throws, they tend to make a mess of the most straightforward chances at times.

This isn't how a modern limited-overs side can function. This isn't how a limited-overs side can run.

Mind you, this is still the best fielding side India has ever produced and undoubtedly one of the best in the world right now. However, they can live up to these words only if they maintain their standards every time they step onto the field.

This isn't a nitpicking spree, but if a team wants to go big at the 2019 World Cup, it needs to be at the top of its fielding game. It is high time India reduce (and cut off) these occasional but glaring fielding errors; the Sri Lanka series will give them the window to try and work with different fielding combinations and hone their now renowned prowess on the field.