Follow UsIndian men’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate informed on the eve of the fourth T20I between India and England that left-handed batter Rinku Singh is fit for selection. The lower order batter has recovered from his back spasms and can feature in India’s 11 at the MCA Stadium in Pune if the team management deems fit.
“Rinku is fit,” ten Doeschate informed.
“He played the first game, hurt himself and missed the next two. But I would imagine Rinku comes back in as soon as he’s proper fit. He batted the other night and I think he’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
Head coach Gautam Gambhir’s assistant also defended his strategy of playing eight batters even if it compromises bowling depth. India have been playing with only one frontline seamer against England.
The team’s fluid batting order philosophy reached logical extreme in the third T20I when a specialist batter like Dhruv Jurel came to bat at number eight in a chase.
“You could argue that we don’t want Dhruv Jurel batting at number 8,” ten Doeschate admitted.
“But I also think if you look at the blueprint of any of Gambhir’s teams that he has coached since he’s been coaching T20 cricket, it is a big part of how he likes to set up.
“Particularly the other night, like I said, with Dhruv coming in at 8, I don’t think we got to see the best of him. But we do believe that it’s a big part of strategy in these games. Again, going back to my point, we want to give guys a long enough opportunity to show how good they are because we believe in the medium to long term, guys will show how good they are.”
The fourth T20I begins at 7:00 PM tomorrow, January 31.