Rohit Sharma was dismissed while playing a pull shot for the second time in the ongoing Test series against England.
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Team India batting coach Vikram Rathour believes that opener Rohit Sharma needs to be a “little more selective” with his shots. Rohit was dismissed while playing a pull shot for the second time in the ongoing Test series against England, on Sunday. The opener’s cheap dismissal in the second innings of the second Test match, emerged as a massive blow considering the damage he is capable of.
“There will be analysis, of course every-time they get out, we will be having a talk, what happened and what they were thinking while batting or while they played that shot,” said Rathour at the virtual post-day press conference after the fourth day’s play.
“As far Rohit is concerned, I think he has made it clear that that is the shot which fetches him runs, that is the shot where he gets runs with, so he is going to play those shots and we are backing him to play those shots, the only thing he needs to do is to be a little more selective, with what to play and when to play,” he added.
Rathour further believes that there is no technical flaw in skipper Virat Kohli’s gameplay, terming the cricketer’s dismissal for 20 in the second innings as a lapse in concentration.
“Kohli, I don’t think there was an issue, it was just a lapse in concentration today, where his bat went to the ball, which he shouldn’t have played and nothing more, I don’t think anything old (is) coming back,” said the batting coach.
Kohli has drawn criticism from former England captain Michael Vaughan who believes that the Indian skipper has been losing his off-stump.
“Really good bowling, not good batting. Virat Kohli is a better player than that. When he had success in English conditions, he was knowing exactly where his off-stump is. His trigger movement goes over to the off-stump and he knows where it is,” he said on BBC’s Test Match Special podcast.
“So far in this series, I just wonder whether he lost his off-stump because he is going over quite a long way and his head is going with him because of that, I think he thinks his off-stump is around the fourth and fifth stump line. He needs to get back into alignment. He played at a wide ball from the pavilion end and you would think, that’s exactly where England want you to be Virat. They are going to bowl the fifth stump, full of length. And they want him to throw his hands at the ball as he did today,” concluded Vaughan.
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has backed England to pull off a triumph in the second Test and go 1-0 up.
“You can kill me for that, I am saying England to win. I feel England will win this encounter because the pitch has become slower but not deteriorated. An odd ball is staying low or climbing, it is not a variable bounce that might disturb you and it is not going to turn that much,” said Chopra while speaking in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel as quoted by India Today.
