India batting coach Vikram Rathour admitted that his side had an ordinary day with the bat, as England took control of the rescheduled fifth Test.
Before play started on Day 4 of the ongoing Edgbaston Test against England, it was India who were on top and the were expecting to set a big target for England. However, some “ordinary” shots brought about the dismissals of Indian batters, and the visitors were bundled out for 245 with only Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant going past the 50-run mark. In the end, England were set a target of 368 and the hosts reached 259/3 at stumps on Day 4 with Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow unbeaten on 76 and 72, respectively.
It is safe to say that England are favourites to win the match now.
India batting coach Vikram Rathour spoke to reporters after stumps on Day 4 during a press conference and he termed the batting performance of his side as “ordinary”.
“I’ll agree that we had a pretty ordinary day as far as batting is concerned. We were ahead in the game. We were in a position where we really could’ve batted them out of the game. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. A lot of them got starts but really couldn’t convert. We were expecting one of them to play a big knock and have a big partnership but unfortunately, it didn’t happen like that,” Rathour said.
“Two wickets in the morning early and again the game will open up. We know that, we understand the game, it is a big target still. It’s still more than 100 runs. We take two wickets early and the game can still open up. The kind of bowling Shami and Bumrah are doing, it’s not beyond them that they get one wicket, then one, two, three can fall. And that can bring us back in the game,” he added.
England used the short-ball tactic to perfection against the Indian batters in the second innings and Shreyas Iyer fell prey to the tactic once again. Shreyas departed after scoring 19 off 26 balls.
“Yes, they used a short-ball plan against us in the field. We had to show a little better, not intent, but strategy. We could’ve handled it slightly differently. People tried to play shots but didn’t really convert or execute them well enough. They got out to that. We will have to rethink how we handle that next time in a similar situation, against similar bowlers who keep similar fields. We will need to have a better strategy against them,” said Rathour.
“Of course, at this level you expect people to bowl short against us, and especially against the Indian team, people have been using the short ball for quite some time. People have their own ways of handling that. As a batter, you have your own way to deal with that. We don’t really say you have to do this or do that. As a batter, you need to decide, according to your game, what suits you in that situation and in those conditions. Unfortunately, today we couldn’t really execute whatever plans we had,” he added.
Source:ndtvsports