Following a 28-run defeat in the Test series opener, Team India moves to Vishakhapatnam for the second fixture against England starting Friday. The hosts have a lot to learn from the upset caused by the tourists in Hyderabad as they bounced back in their second essay to outclass India. The key highlights of England’s outstanding win was Ollie Pope’s 196 followed by debutant Tom Hartley’s 7-wicket haul. And ahead of the next encounter in Vizag, speculation is rife that India might go England’s way to bounce back – bringing on the sweep game.
But on the other hand, India batting coach Vikram Rathour believes that implementing sweep shots is not as easy as it sounds. It requires good preparation. Addressing the press on Wednesday afternoon, Rathour said sweep and reverse sweep shots against a spin-heavy attack can help the batters score some vital runs but it’s not the way how the hosts would play their game.
“It is not something that you can try, you need to be prepared,” Rathour told media.
“Of course if you can add more shots to your game it is always beneficial. We play in a traditional way, our strengths and strong areas are going straight using our feet and if we can add shots and score runs square of the wicket that is always a good addition,” Rathour added.
India slipped to fifth place on the World Test Championship (WTC) table following the loss in Hyderabad and the hosts would be desperate to bounce back here.
Rathour said that more than recovery, the players need to learn and move on.
“There’s no question of recovery. You keep learning every game that you play. Of course, we could have done better in batting, bowling and fielding. A lot of discussions and ideas are being shared, preparing well and hoping to do well in the next game,” he said.
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He expressed confidence in the players’ ability to bounce back and cited India’s unbeaten record in Test series at home since 2012.
“We keep talking about our batters (not scoring enough), but India has been winning a lot of series at home. We haven’t lost a series at home for 12-13 years.
“It means we are putting up more runs than the other teams. These are tough conditions to score runs, but I’m sure that the batters will find a way,” he added.
(With Agency Inputs)
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