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Is Ravindra Jadeja the most clutch fielder of all time?

marlonbrowndo

Senior ODI Player
Joined
May 29, 2015
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I wrote this in the Jadeja thread but I feel this topic warrants its own thread because this is an aspect of fielding that is often overlooked. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone take difficult catches or hit the stumps at as many important situations as him. Even the great SA fielders such as Gibbs (1999) and AB (2015) have missed chances at important situations but this guy always seems to be in the right place at the right time for his team and never lets a chance slip.

Personally the greatest fielder I’ve seen after Symonds but definitely the most clutch.

Fielding is something that is 10 times more difficult when you see a chance coming at you during a crucial moment on the big stage.

Just 3 of his performances that come to mind are the catch against Bangladesh in the 2016 game, the catch against Pak in the 2017 CT, the catch and run out in the 2019 semi. But there are so many more

Who do you guys think is the most clutch fielder ever?.
 
I wrote this in the Jadeja thread but I feel this topic warrants its own thread because this is an aspect of fielding that is often overlooked. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone take difficult catches or hit the stumps at as many important situations as him. Even the great SA fielders such as Gibbs (1999) and AB (2015) have missed chances at important situations but this guy always seems to be in the right place at the right time for his team and never lets a chance slip.

Personally the greatest fielder I’ve seen after Symonds but definitely the most clutch.

Fielding is something that is 10 times more difficult when you see a chance coming at you during a crucial moment on the big stage.

Just 3 of his performances that come to mind are the catch against Bangladesh in the 2016 game, the catch against Pak in the 2017 CT, the catch and run out in the 2019 semi. But there are so many more

Who do you guys think is the most clutch fielder ever?.

Not sure what exactly is meant by clutch fielder but Mark Waugh took great catches in big games and Ponting was great running out people.

For me Waugh was the best all round fielder, Jonty at point and Roger Harper in the outfield. Roger was electric.
 
Probably the first player who I've felt who makes fielding look like an art. Just the way he moves or runs around the field gives you the vibe of a proper athlete and the quick pick up and immediate release with high accuracy and speed in run outs is just poetry in motion. He's probably the guy I've seen get the most direct hits since Ponting. His run out of Malik in the champion trophy was a thing of beauty. Just an out and out athlete.

 
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Not sure what exactly is meant by clutch fielder but Mark Waugh took great catches in big games and Ponting was great running out people.

For me Waugh was the best all round fielder, Jonty at point and Roger Harper in the outfield. Roger was electric.

Jonty gets overrated because of how much better he was than his peers but the game has evolved. Ponting was brilliant and just as good as Jadeja at direct hits but inferior at everything else.
 
He is a complete fielder and can change the momentum of the game with his fielding skills alone.
 
I wrote this in the Jadeja thread but I feel this topic warrants its own thread because this is an aspect of fielding that is often overlooked. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone take difficult catches or hit the stumps at as many important situations as him. Even the great SA fielders such as Gibbs (1999) and AB (2015) have missed chances at important situations but this guy always seems to be in the right place at the right time for his team and never lets a chance slip.

Personally the greatest fielder I’ve seen after Symonds but definitely the most clutch.

Fielding is something that is 10 times more difficult when you see a chance coming at you during a crucial moment on the big stage.

Just 3 of his performances that come to mind are the catch against Bangladesh in the 2016 game, the catch against Pak in the 2017 CT, the catch and run out in the 2019 semi. But there are so many more

Who do you guys think is the most clutch fielder ever?.

You missed sir ahead of RJ.Please correct it
 
We have had great outfield catchers like Raina, Yuvraj, etc., who have made some incredible diving catches at full stretch. But they were not always the best movers in the field and similarly someone like Kohli who is generally a fast runner in the outfield drops a ton load of catches. And not many Indian fielders were great with effecting run outs. Jadeja is probably the guy who is incredibly quick and agile in the outfield, can take screamers in the outfield and is one of the best ever in history in effecting run outs. He is the complete fielder.

He can take screamers like this..



And effect run outs with barely a stump to aim at like this..


Like I said, just an out and out athlete.
 
We have had great outfield catchers like Raina, Yuvraj, etc., who have made some incredible diving catches at full stretch. But they were not always the best movers in the field and similarly someone like Kohli who is generally a fast runner in the outfield drops a ton load of catches. And not many Indian fielders were great with effecting run outs. Jadeja is probably the guy who is incredibly quick and agile in the outfield, can take screamers in the outfield and is one of the best ever in history in effecting run outs. He is the complete fielder.

He can take screamers like this..



And effect run outs with barely a stump to aim at like this..


Like I said, just an out and out athlete.

Direct throws, catching or ground fielding, he is phenomenal in every aspect of fielding.
 
I think Faf and Steve Smith deserves a mention too. Faf for his catching ability especially.
 
He is as good as Ricky Ponting who I regard as the best fielder of all time
 
Jonty gets overrated because of how much better he was than his peers but the game has evolved. Ponting was brilliant and just as good as Jadeja at direct hits but inferior at everything else.

Thats not called being overated Thats being called a genuis

What jonty was doing 30 yrs was something exceptional for the times The hallmark of quality is just that

He was so far ahead of the majority of his peers it was astounding

His ceiling would be even higher considering the standards now
 
Thats not called being overated Thats being called a genuis

What jonty was doing 30 yrs was something exceptional for the times The hallmark of quality is just that

He was so far ahead of the majority of his peers it was astounding

His ceiling would be even higher considering the standards now

Yeah I agree. I worded it wrong. I purely meant in the context of including him among people like Jadeja, AB etc in terms of pure fielding skill. In terms of impact and stature he is probably the greatest fielder of all time
 
Sir Jadeja have been an amazing fielder and a complete cricketer. I have always rated Jadeja very highly and have always known what he is capable of. I think as a fielder he is as good as anyone but that is not something we should be discussing as we should take it a step further and find out whether this guy is human or not. or check with stark industries to see if they had given him a metal arm and enhanced vision at the start of his career :)
 
That would be Jonty Rhodes. He did all these when guys would just escort the ball to the boundary. He would cause confusion with his fielding and get the batsmen run out. Batsmen have to hit 10 ft either side of him to get the ball past him.
 
Bit difficult to compare Eras and fielding Atg's I guess.
For an all round fieldsman, i guess the person could be in any position from slips, gully, cover/midwicket to the outer and boundaries and still have a massive effect, save runs, effect runouts.
Don't know about RJ's ability in slips or at short leg/silly point but i guess the kind of genius he is, can't imagine he'd have difficulties in converting half chances.
But at cover or midwicket he is a real presence, a threat...just like jonty, gibbs, ponting, symonds, ab.
I guess ponting might just have the edge in direct hits.
At gully, u have guys like garner, Harper, i think Cameron green showed exceptional ability in this india-aus series 2020/1. For pak, i guess a good underrated fielder was the bro of either Rashid latif or Moeen khan cant remember who, he was awesome. Shadab is fab as well.

What makes Jads special is his anticipation and the strength of his throw and the accuracy, its powerful and generally on target. Just feel at times, our management does not value Ravi jadeja as much as it should....That catch in NZ-wellington 2020 was wow.....
 
The best fielder in the history of the game hands down jonty times are gone this is the best the world has ever seen and there is not even a competition here.
 
No.

Ricky Ponting is the best fielder ever. Outfield, slip, short-leg, he could do it all.

I only remember him dropping one catch and that was after he went completely HORIZONTAL in the air fielding in the slips, catching it but it popped out after he made impact with the ground.
 
He's the best fielder of this generation.

So he's certainly in the GOAT fielder conversation.
 
For me Ponting was that guy that you never wanted to ball to go to in the covers. His throwing accuracy was second to none, You just couldn't take a run off of him. Insane accuracy hitting the stumps. That is being clutch.
 
Top 5 fielders I have ever seen:

1. Jonty
2. Jadeja
3. Ponting
4. Gibbs
5. Symonds

Honorable mentions: Stokes, Collingwood, Raina (when he wasn’t overweight), Faf, Maxwell, McCullum.
 
From the current players he is definately up there, but I really rate Chris Jordan also, especially when it comes to cathing.
 
It's hard to compare fielders because we don't have many metrics to measure their performances as we do with batsmen and bowlers. So it's based largely on what you see with your eyes. All these names mentioned were sharp.

I recently saw highlights of the 1984/85 Brisbane Test between West Indies and Australia, and while some old era stuff sometimes doesn't hold up well - I was amazed at the quality of slip catching. You can imagine that fast, bouncy Gabba surface and how quickly the ball would travel yet hardly a single slip chance was grassed by the likes of Lloyd, Richards and Richardson.

The other thing that impressed me having binged a few of the Benson and Hedges tri series from that era is how accurate their throws are from the deep. This was when boundaries were literally at the hoardings unlike now, but even on those huge Aussie grounds their throws are directed at the top of the stumps without fail with the bowler or keeper hardly needing to move from their mark.
 
Top 5 fielders I have ever seen:

1. Jonty
2. Jadeja
3. Ponting
4. Gibbs
5. Symonds

Honorable mentions: Stokes, Collingwood, Raina (when he wasn’t overweight), Faf, Maxwell, McCullum.

It can only mean you haven't seen Kaif,Miller,Clarke,AB DeVilliers
 
Yes!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sensational catch 🔥🔥<a href="https://twitter.com/imjadeja?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@imjadeja</a> grabs a RIPPER off his own bowling! <br><br>Follow the match ▶️ <a href="https://t.co/rSxD0lf5zJ">https://t.co/rSxD0lf5zJ</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TATAIPL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TATAIPL</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MIvCSK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MIvCSK</a> <a href="https://t.co/HjnXep6tXF">pic.twitter.com/HjnXep6tXF</a></p>— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) <a href="https://twitter.com/IPL/status/1644714076344573957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2023</a></blockquote>
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