Catch my point?

From Ravi, United States of America
Ricky Ponting announced that they can take advantage of 'Old India' with their brand of 'new-age' cricket. No one denies that the Australians are athletic on the field, but that doesn't always translate into better fielding overall.

Ganguly is truly an average fielder but looking at the other three, Laxman, Dravid, and Tendulkar, we are in for a surprise. Laxman is slow but he has rarely dropped a catch in the slips (key area in Test cricket). In fact, he has caught some blinders comfortably. His close-in fielding for the Indian spinners is also exceptional. Dravid too is one of best slip fielders in the world. Together Dravid and Laxman must surely rank alongside Mark Waugh. Tendulkar is more versatile and is a good slip fielder for fast bowlers. He is also an outstanding fielder in the deep with a surprisingly good arm, considering his serious elbow injury.

We don't often come to associate the Australians with poor fielding, but looking at the awe-inspiring Michael Clarke's brief stint at slips where he regularly dropped simple catches, it shows that nobody is infallible. Admittedly the Australians have the best ground fielding and also more of the complete packages like Ponting, but that doesn't mean the Indian seniors are the root cause of India's concerns. Not everyone needs to be flying on the boundaries ropes to be good fielders - a fine catch at slip or silly point are equally important in games.

Sure India's famous seniors have sometimes been ugly on the field, but they have been pretty awesome in their preferred positions too and left us with memories to treasure just like their gifted batting.