We started a dive down of the positions on the leg side, starting with short leg and then going to square leg. We will now continue to further elaborate other leg side positions, and the next position we will be dissecting in detail is the “Fine Leg”. Now this position has nothing to do with how good the legs of a particular fielder look. The reason why the position is named as such has a certain meaning. So there were multiple instances of batsmen not timing their shots well, as in they weren’t hitting the meat of the bat, and the edges would find the boundary behind square on the leg side.
So the term ‘Fine Leg’ came forward that the batsman’s shot was played very “fine”, and thus the fielder placed there to protect the runs was hence christened as fine leg. The main purpose of this fielder to make sure that he stops any ball going to his area, and capitalise on a poorly timed pull shot, by grabbing that catch opportunity.
You normally cast your eye around during the game and you will normally always see a fast bowler standing at fine leg almost 90% of the time. This is because the position is normally occupied by the bowling spearheads of the fielding side, because they are not the most athletic or the agile of the fielders, which means that they can catch their breath and get adequate rest which will recharge them for the later part of the bowling innings. However, the fact that they are less agile does not hide the fact that they will have to be alert for the ball or any catching chance that comes their way.
While there have been a significant number of game-changing catches taken at this position, nothing can beat the significance of the importance of the catch that Sreesanth took at fine leg in 2007. It was the 2007 T20 World Cup finale between India and Pakistan. With Pakistan needing only six runs to win the first ever T20 World Cup, Misbah Ul-Haq played an ill-fated scoop shot of the bowling of Joginder Sharma.
While it got the elevation, it did not get the desired distance, and the ball went into the waiting hands of Sreesanth, who gleefully took the catch, making india the world champions. Some would go on to say that it was the catch that cemented the notion of MS Dhoni as a leader, but it remains a catch that holds a special place in Indian hearts.
