India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour on Wednesday said it “will be tough” to pick one among Sarfaraz Khan and Rajat Patidar in the second Test against England. The match begins here from Friday, with hosts India seeking to draw parity after losing the series opener in Hyderabad. After the first game, India faced injury concerns with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul being ruled out of the second Test, in addition to the absence of star batter Virat Kohli. This forced the selectors to add uncapped Sarfaraz Khan, Sourabh Kumar and Washington Sundar to the squad, and Rajat Patidar also made the team.
“It will be a tough choice. What value they bring to the team, of course, is that they are superb players. We have seen how well they have done in domestic cricket in the last few years,” Rathour said of the reinforcements during a press conference.
“So on these kind of wickets, I think they can really add a lot of value to the team.” He added, “If we have to pick just one out of them, of course, it would be tough. But, that decision will be made by Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma.” The playing XI will be finalised keeping in mind the conditions.
“It (pitch) is difficult to predict. It will turn, maybe not from the first day, but eventually, it will turn. That’s how the wicket looks like.”
‘No question of recovery’
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 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.”
‘Don’t think players require too much coaching’
At this level, Rathour said the players just need to act as per the situation.
“Once you come to this level, I don’t think you require too much coaching. It’s about reading the situations and making smarter decisions.
“As long as they are asking the right questions and receiving the right answers, there is no chance of over-coaching,” he concluded.
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