SOUTHAMPTON: Batting coach Vikram Rathour on Saturday said that a first innings score of 250-plus will put India in a fighting position against New Zealand, keeping the prevailing conditions in mind during the ongoing World Test Championship final.
SCORECARDIndia ended the curtailed second day on 146 for 3 with Virat Kohli batting on 44 off 124 balls in company of Ajinkya Rahane 29 not out off 79 balls.
“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.
That’s about it from Day 2⃣ of the #WTC21 Final in Southampton! The day’s play is called off due to bad light.… https://t.co/jDKMTtNU5A— BCCI (@BCCI) 1624123051000The batting coach lauded openers Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma for seeing off the new ball in an admirable manner as they played positively to add 62 runs.
? A brilliant start from @BCCI’s openers ? The perfect response from @BLACKCAPS’ seamers? The class of Virat Kohl… https://t.co/k2IJYW6arV— ICC (@ICC) 1624156547000Asked if taking stance outside the crease was to counter swing or play more attacking shots, Rathour said, “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.” Read AlsoIndia vs New Zealand WTC Final, Day 2: Virat Kohli strives to give India early advantageKohli led India’s resolute batting effort against New Zealand in testing conditions before bad light brought an anti-climatic end to Day 2 of the WTC Final.
Rohit Sharma (34) and Shubman Gill (28), opening for the first time in England, showed remarkable application against the moving ball to shareThe former India opener feels that once the Dukes ball got a tad older, it started swinging much more and hence scoring runs became a bit difficult than what it was when the openers were batting.
“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.” Rathour also brushed aside assertions that Cheteshwar Pujara is facing some technical problems as he has now been hit at least four times on the helmet in recent Test matches.
Read AlsoIndian players wear black armbands in memory of Milkha SinghThe Indian cricket team on Saturday wore black armbands on the second day of the World Test Championship final against New Zealand as a mark of respect to ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh, who passed away after a month-long battle due to Covid-19 related complications.”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,” he signed off.