NOTTINGHAM: Under-fire India coach Ravi Shastri on Thursday called on his struggling batsmen to show more discipline and grit when the third Test against England gets underway at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
He said that despite tough conditions, need of the hour is to show resolve and play gritty cricket. England lead the five-match series 2-0 after winning the first two Tests in Birmingham and Lord’s.
“Conditions have been tough right through this series. But that’s where character and discipline come into play. The resolve to know where your off stump is, leave a lot of balls, be prepared to look ugly and dirty and show some grit,” said Shastri. “I don’t think its fair to single out any one player,” he added, when asked about Ajinkya Rahane’s struggles on this tour.
“Batsmen from both teams have struggled. When the occasion demands, it’s a case of mental resolve – how you put mind over matter. Mental discipline will be the key as far as batsmen are concerned going forward in this Test match. Rahane is one of our pillars and he will remain so.”
There is some good news ahead of the must-win Test for India. Skipper Virat Kohli is near full fitness ahead of the game as he batted without any discomfort and also took slip catching. Jasprit Bumrah, R Ashwin and Hardik Pandya have already been declared fit for the game. India will be looking to find the optimal combination for the game, and the coach admitted that they had made a mistake going with an extra spinner at Lord’s.
“Kohli is feeling much better. You saw him in the nets – he is moving much better and improving by the day. “In hindsight, it (picking second spinner) was an error. We should have gone, seeing the conditions, with an extra seamer. It might have helped. Then again, you didn’t know how much it would rain, whether a match could go into the final day where just in case a second spinner is needed and the ball starts to turn, would we have needed him? “But in hindsight the way things panned out, the amount it rained, the time we lost, a seamer could have been a better option,” said Shastri.
England are on the cusp of wrapping up the series with victory at Trent Bridge, and the only way India can avoid that is to register only their second win in six overseas Tests in 2018. Shastri said that the team knows how to do it because they have been in this position before. “Just believe in your self,” he said.
On the other hand, England have a selection headache at hand and a problem of plenty with the return of Ben Stokes to the Test squad. (PTI)
Ready to open in Tests: Rohit
MUMBAI: Opening in shorter formats proved to be a boon for Rohit Sharma, who said that he will not mind taking a shot at it in Test matches too, if the team management ever considers that as an option in near future.
The 31-year-old has scored 1479 runs at shade under 40 per innings in 25 Tests with three hundreds and nine half centuries but is currently out of favour as far as longest format is concerned.
With the trio of KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay struggling, Rohit was posed a question if he would like to open the innings in Test matches too. “Look, I have never been offered (to open the innings in Tests) yet but I am open to anything as in whatever the team management wants. I never thought I will be an opener in ODIs when I started playing or when I was playing for India. But it happened along the way, so I (want to) keep my options open. No option is shut for me, so if the opportunity comes, I will take it,” Rohit stated.
While his technique in testing conditions outside the Indian sub-continent has time and again come under scanner, the stylish batsman is still hopeful of a Test recall “I want to be part of the (Test) team, but it is not in my hands.” He added. (PTI)