Before Mohammad Azharuddin was made the Captain of the Indian Cricket team, the standard of Indian fielding on the cricket field was something which was not to be proud of. It was only after he took over captaincy that India started improving their fielding standards with Azhar personally leading the charge, by being the best Indian fielder in the Indian team along with Ajay Jadeja. After that under Saurav Ganguly, India took a huge stride in maintaining their fitness level and performance on the field and which was later continued under the leadership of MS Dhoni and now Virat Kohli.
Therefore other than Ajay Jadeja and Azhar, I will be listing the names of a few Indian fielders who I feel are in the race for the title of being the best Indian fielder ever.
- Rahul Dravid: It is often thought that standing in the slip cordon is an easy job as it requires almost no running, but it is one of the toughest positions to field which tests your awareness and reflexes. He holds the record of the most catches in Test cricket taken by a non-wicketkeeper(210).
- Mohammad Kaif: One of the first players who come to mind when the topic of the best fielders in cricket arises. He along with Yuvraj Singh were two of the youngsters under the captaincy of Dada who were tasked with batting lower down the order and was more importantly one of the calmest players on the field who took catches that are still talked about after ages.
- Yuvraj Singh: The man who was the fighting force behind India's World Cup triumph in 2011, despite battling cancer. He was one of the best fielders to grace the cricket field and along with his wicket-taking ability with the ball, is considered along with Kapil Dev in the brackets of India's best all-rounders.
- Suresh Raina: Whether it was taking blinders in the slip or at the boundary line, the southpaw produced some of the most acrobatic performances on the cricket field. But just like his role in the Indian cricket team which is still not acknowledged enough, where he was the lynchpin between the top order and the lower order, his fielding performances are also overlooked a bit.