ICC WTC Final: India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour reckons 250, a good first inning total for WTC Final.
ICC WTC Final: Team India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour on Saturday reckons that anything above 250 runs will be a good and fighting total on this surface here in the Hampshire Bowl, Southampton.
India after a solid opening stand between Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill capitalized on the start and scored 146 for 3 in the curtailed day 2 of the ICC World Test Championship. Indian skipper Virat Kohli (44* off 124) and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane (29* off 79) are at the crease.
“We would like to score as many runs as possible but 250 plus will be a reasonable score in these conditions,” Rathour said at the day-end press conference.
The coach heaped praises on Indian openers to put up a solid batting stand and playing the swinging deliveries in an admirable manner.
“Batting is about scoring runs. Rohit and Gill showed a lot of intent and looked to score wherever they can. Hats off to Virat and Rahane for the manner in which they batted but a lot of credit should also got to the openers,” said Vikram Rathour when asked if standing outside the crease was to counter the amount of swing.
The former cricketer feels that as soon as the Dukes ball got a bit older it started to swing a lot more and scoring runs became difficult in the second session.
“I think when the ball got a bit older, it started swinging more. Also, the New Zealand pacers hit good areas during the second session,” he said.
He further wiped out all the assertions on Cheteshwar Pujara facing technical issues as he has been hit on the helmet 4 times in the last two test matches.
“We are not really concerned and he is a good player. I don’t think pace is an issue with him. Till he batted, he looked solid and he has a role to play in the team. Today also, he played 50 odd balls. He just needs to convert those starts. It’s going to happen very soon,” Rathour said.
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