Indore, March 1: The Indian team didn’t factor in excessive turn on offer as it was a bad day in office despite playing spin being one of its strengths, batting coach Vikram Rathour claimed on Wednesday.
India were all-out for 109 on the opening day of the third Test, in a little over one session with Australia left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann picking 5 for 16 in his only second Test.
On the same pitch, visitors managed to reach 156 for four at stumps and go into day two with a valuable 47-run lead.
The ball turning square in the first hour of play, attracted a lot of attention with many criticising the nature of the surface.
However, Rathour maintained that playing on turners at home remains the team’s strength.
“It is a challenging wicket for sure. More turn than what we expected. May be because of the moisture, the ball turned sharply in the morning. We could have made more runs for sure but I don’t think anyone played poor or rash cricket. We just had an off day as a batting unit,” Rathour said in a media interaction.
When asked about the risk of playing on turners, Rathour said they could be at the receiving end at times but remains the team’s strength.
“To be fair to curators. They hardly got time to prepare the wicket. They had a Ranji season here and it is pretty late it that was decide the game will be shifted from Dharamsala. They did not get enough time,” said the former India opener.
Rathour felt that wicket might have eased as the day progressed. Usman Khawaja was the stand out batter for Australia with a gritty 60 off 147 balls.
“It felt like that (wicket eased out). I won’t be able to comment on that. The guys playing the middle can tell you that better. It felt like it had gone slower later in the day. It wasn’t turning as sharply as it was in the morning,” Rathour said.
Asked, if the Indian batters did deviate from their plans, the Indian batting coach replied in negative. (PTI)
