Vikram Rathour

India&rsquo;s batting coach <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/2490/vikram-rathour/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vikram Rathour</a> said that the Indore surface offered more turn than they expected but sympathised with the curators, saying they didn&rsquo;t get enough time to prepare the pitch after the third Test was shifted here from Dharamsala just before the start of the second Test in Delhi.&nbsp;The Holkar Stadium turned out to be heaven for Australian spinners as they dismantled the Indian batting line-up, bowling them out for just 109 in 33.2 overs. Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann scalped five wickets, while Nathan Lyon claimed three. For India, Shubman Gill (21) and Virat Kohli (22) were the only batters to cross the 20-run mark.&quot;We do prefer to play on turning tracks. That&#39;s our strength. To be fair, this is just a one-off wicket. The pitches for the first two Tests were not bad at all. It was drier than we expected. To be fair to the curators, they hardly got time to prepare a pitch. They had Ranji season here, it was pretty late that they decided that the match was being shifted here. I don&#39;t think they got enough time to prepare the pitch,&quot; Rathour told reporters.&quot;It was a challenging wicket for sure. It did more than we expected. There was moisture on the surface which made the ball turn sharply. Definitely, we could have scored more runs but I don&#39;t think anybody played poor cricket or rash shots. It&#39;s just that we had an off day as a batting unit.&quot;In response, Usman Khawaja scored 60 as Australia ended day one with 156/4 on the board, leading by 47 with six wickets in hand. Ravindra Jadeja took all four wickets, while R Ashwin and Axar Patel couldn&rsquo;t really put enough pressure on Australian batters.&quot;It felt like that (the pitch changed a bit as the day progressed). I won&#39;t be able to comment on that, the guys playing in the middle will be able to give a better idea but it felt that went a little slower. It was not turning as sharply as it was in the morning. That&#39;s the only difference. To credit them, I think they bowled really well. They hit the right areas.&quot;Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer all got out while taking the attack to the bowler, while Cheteshwar Pujara was knocked over while trying to score off a ripper from Lyon that turned back sharply from wide of off-stump.&quot;That was misjudgement in the length. He (Pujara) saw a ball which was outside off stump and expected it to come straighter but it turned. It was a misjudgement which can happen. On Rohit, this is how he bats, he likes to take the game on and score runs. Most days it comes off, today it didn&rsquo;t,&quot; said the batting coach.Asked, if the batters did deviate from their plans, Rathour said: &ldquo;Not really. The plan was to trust your defense and wait for the loose balls and score as many as runs you can. It was one of those days when everything you did went into the hands (of fielders). Basically, we just had an off day.&ldquo;These are challenging wickets. As a team, we want to play on turning tracks. You need to bat really well to score runs. The batters have done well (in the series). Virat was exceptionally good in the last game, today also he was looking good. Rohit has played a good innings, as well as Jadeja and Axar.&quot;The visitors have already taken a 47-run lead but Rathour isn&rsquo;t too worried. &quot;Taking a lead is not as big a issue because they will need to bat number four on this surface. Now the challenge is to keep them to as low as possible. We will have to bat well in the second innings.&rdquo;Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

The Holkar Stadium turned out to be heaven for Australian spinners as they bowled India out for just 109 in 33.2 overs

Australia tour of India, 2023

India

Indore pitch did more than we expected: Rathour

Rohit Sharma smashed a stunning century on day two of the opening Test against Australia in Nagpur but India&rsquo;s batting coach <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/2490/vikram-rathour/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vikram Rathour</a> said the opener had to &ldquo;work hard&rdquo; on a surface that was keeping a bit low and also offering enough turn to the spinners.&nbsp;The Indian captain scored 120 off 212 deliveries and propelled his team to a commanding position. The hosts are currently 321/7, leading by 144 runs, with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel still out there in the middle.&nbsp;Rohit has always had a terrific record at home but has transformed himself into a different beast ever since being promoted as an opener. That epic knock of 161 on a Chepauk snake pit in 2021 will be remembered for years to come, while we all know how well he batted when India toured England in the same year.&ldquo;It was a special innings by Rohit and it is a great feeling (to see him score runs). He showed good temperament and it was a very important innings as the surface wasn&rsquo;t easy to bat on,&rdquo; Rathour said at the end of the second day&rsquo;s play.&ldquo;That is the quality of his batting. He has got runs on seaming tracks in England. But if we talk about this particular innings, he was made to work hard for his runs. Normally, with Rohit when he scores his first few runs, he then pushes the score. But here he had to work hard.&rdquo;India were 229/6 when Rohit perished but Jadeja and Axar made sure Australia didn&rsquo;t get a chance to make a comeback in the final session. Both batters have already gone past the 50-run mark and put on 81* runs for the eighth wicket.&nbsp;India now have a match-winning lead but Rathour doesn&rsquo;t want them to get complacent. However, he also didn&rsquo;t shy away from heaping heavy praise on Axar. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so. You can&rsquo;t say till the last ball is bowled. He (Axar) has been exceptional with the ball so that was not even a consideration. Yes, (his) batting is a bonus.KL Rahul hasn&rsquo;t been in great form of late and was dismissed for just 20 on day one. The right-hander has just one 50-plus score in his last nine innings. &quot;I won&#39;t be able to comment on that,&quot; Rathour said when he was asked whether Rahul is lucky to be considered in the Indian playing XI.&nbsp;&quot;To be fair to KL, he (Rahul) has scored two hundreds in his last 10 Tests &ndash; one in England and other in South Africa and also has a couple of fifties. So yeah, I don&#39;t think we are there.&quot;Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

The Indian captain scored 120 off 212 deliveries and propelled his team to a commanding position against Australia

Rohit had to work hard for his runs: Vikram Rathour 

India&#39;s batting coach <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/2490/vikram-rathour/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vikram Rathour</a> said both Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav &ldquo;understand&rdquo; that they will have to wait for their chances in the ODI format. The Men in Blue are currently involved in a three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka and have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead.&nbsp;Suryakumar is the top-ranked T20I batter, while Kishan smoked a double century in his last ODI. However, the two haven&rsquo;t featured in the ODI series yet, with the likes of Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer being preferred over them.&quot;They are not forced (to sit out), I mean, the others are doing good as well. As players they do understand that, and they need to wait for their opportunity, and they are preparing for that, they train hard and whenever that opportunity comes, they do well and hold on to their places,&quot; said Rathour ahead of the third and final ODI in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday (January 15).Kishan, who has been picked for the first two Tests against Australia, has slammed 477 runs in nine ODI innings at an average of 53 and a strike rate of 111.97. The wicketkeeper-batter from Jharkhand has proven his worth as an opener but could also bat in the middle-order if the situation demands.&quot;At the moment, he has been picked as an opener but as a batting unit we are flexible and if there is a need to try somebody like Ishan in the middle order, we might have to. At the moment though, he is being looked at as an opener.&quot;Meanwhile, SKY has an average of 46.41 and a strike rate of 180.34 in the shortest format of the game but is yet to ace the 50-over format. In 16 ODIs, the right-hander has scored 384 runs at an average of 32 and a strike rate of 100.52. He is competing with the likes of Rahul and Iyer who have been a lot more consistent in this format.&quot;He has great potential, he has been in great form, it is great to have him in the reserve, and hopefully, when the time comes, he will take that opportunity and do well for the team. It is great to have such versatile player in the team.&quot;Once India are done with Sri Lanka, they will play three more ODIs against New Zealand this month. The 2023 World Cup is not too far away and Rathour said 20 games would be enough to zero in on the core group of players for the showpiece event.&quot;I think, 20 games are enough, if we can shortlist the players, that&rsquo;s the core we are focusing on. As team management, we do understand who are the players we are looking to focus on. If we have clarity then I think 20 games are enough to work on those certain areas. We have always been a good 50-over format team, just some areas to fine-tune and 20 games are enough to do that.&quot;Talking about the lower-order batting, Rathour said: &quot;They need to bat more in the nets, that is the thing we strive for, we make them bat more, the more they bat the better they become. We encourage them to keep batting at the nets even when they go and play for their states and IPL.&ldquo;That is what has been told to them. We want them to get better and if we can get more runs from the lower order, it will be great. That&#39;s an area we are looking to get better at.&quot;Axar Patel has been batting well actually, he has always been a good player, we always believe he has a lot of potential in his batting as well and that is what he is showing lately.&quot;As a team, it gives us lots of options as far as playing all-rounders is concerned. We have three guys who can bat well, I am sure (Ravindra) Jadeja will be back soon, then we have Axar and Washington Sundar who can bat. It is great to have those options.&quot;&nbsp;Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

The batting coach also wants the lower-order to chip in more with the bat

Sri Lanka tour of India, 2023

SKY and Kishan need to wait for their opportunity: Rathour

India&rsquo;s batting coach <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/2490/vikram-rathour/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vikram Rathour</a> feels that the ongoing two-match Test series in Bangladesh will serve as a perfect preparation for the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia in February-March at home. The surfaces in Bangladesh offer a lot of assistance to spinners and the conditions in India are going to be no different.&quot;You expect wickets to turn in the sub-continent, and after this we will be playing an important series against Australia where wickets are expected to turn. So it&#39;s good practice for us. It will be good preparation for Indian batters. We are not discussing anything tactically but looking forward to playing good cricket,&quot; said Rathour on the eve of the second and final Test in Dhaka.India hammered Bangladesh by 188 runs in the first Test and would want to keep the winning momentum going considering they have a superb chance of making it through to the World Test Championship final once again.&nbsp;The likes of Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant were amongst runs in the first Test but stand-in skipper KL Rahul and Virat Kohli couldn&#39;t do much damage with the bat. The two batters were seen working closely with Rathour ahead of the second Test but the batting coach didn&rsquo;t get into the details.&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;m not going to get into those discussions, these discussions keep happening, a few things he was looking at and there&#39;s nothing to be concerned about. He was just working on something. We are looking forward to both of them scoring runs. Hoping to see big innings from both of them from this match.&quot;Rahul even got hit on his thumb while taking throwdowns from Rathour but he said it was nothing serious. However, if he does miss out, vice-captain Pujara will lead the side and we could see Abhimanyu Easwaran make his much-awaited Test debut.&quot;It doesn&#39;t look serious. He seems to be fine. Hopefully he&#39;ll be okay. The doctors are looking at it, but hopefully he&#39;ll be okay.&quot;Talking about the Dhaka surface, Rathour said: &quot;We&#39;re expecting this one to have a bit more bounce and turn than the previous one. We look to play according to the situation. We are fine whatever wicket we get. We have absolutely no issues from our side. However it plays, we have to put up as many runs as we can and put up a good score if we bat first.Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

KL Rahul got hit on his thumb while taking throwdowns from Rathour but the coach says it's nothing serious 

India tour of Bangladesh, 2022

Bangladesh Tests good preparation for Australia series: Rathour

If you had a checklist of what all India would have wanted to avoid, it is almost a certainty that all of that came true in this game.Try batting first? We know how that went!!<a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/60122/kl-rahul/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">KL Rahul</a>&nbsp;issue? Came pretty true!Overreliance on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/11803/suryakumar-yadav/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Suryakumar Yadav?</a>&nbsp;Hmmm!An off day for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/4555/ravichandran-ashwin/articles" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ravichandran Ashwin</a>? Okay.Injury to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/3632/dinesh-karthik/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dinesh Karthik?</a>&nbsp;Stop now.This is not what India wanted, especially against a challenger, South Africa. In an ideal world, India would have wanted to test themselves out in the most challenging of conditions. But all of that could go wrong, goes horribly wrong. Having won the toss, it was pretty brave of Rohit Sharma to opt to bat.<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1667145377341-articleimg" style="width: 700px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">There was some spice on the wicket, it was pretty fitting for the South African pace attack to exploit. After two failures, it was a prime opportunity for Rahul to &ldquo;block the noise&rdquo; but the reality was far from different. Like Rishabh Pant, it was a project that India wanted to pull off, and had it happened, we would all never be here.&nbsp;Had.Now, it is where India have a major struggle. Batting coach <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/2490/vikram-rathour/recent" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vikram Rathour</a> came out and <a href="https://www.cricket.com/news/not-looking-for-other-opening-options-besides-rahul-says-rathour-1667029544324" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">backed the 30-year-old to be the one</a>. Plenty of times over the past year, every press conference has had a question on Rahul but the answer has always remained the same, we back him. On days like Sunday (October 30), you wonder why?It is days like these that can make you a hero! Or in Rahul&rsquo;s case, a nightmare for the management. Everyone around you are backing you to the tilt but very often you find yourself in this position of vulnerability. It is almost like you are walking on negative confidence, if there was ever such a thing. With every failure, there is writing on the wall.<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1667145452757-articleimg" style="width: 700px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">South Africa yet again brought up this familiar headache for India. What do they do with him? India have their hands tied, and dropping him during the T20 World Cup is another precedent that they don&rsquo;t want to set. But they are left with almost no choice at this point.**********At 26/2, out came Suryakumar, not for the first time in such a position. Just a week before, he walked in such a tight-roped situation against the arch-rivals, Pakistan. If you politely enquire with Suryakumar, he would consider it as a failure. Well chuck that, his standards are so high, like Kohli&rsquo;s, that the dip is instantly noticeable.Despite walking on the tightrope back then, he tried performing a few tricks, which ultimately helped him on Sunday. Tightrope, unicycle, a pace attack that literally was chucking fireball, one after the other. But it rarely mattered. He rode with such zen, putting India in a good position instantly.<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1667145497201-articleimg" style="width: 700px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Suryakumar&rsquo;s mantra has been simple: force the opposition to make a mistake by making the first move. Against the Proteas, he made the first move, the second move, chuck that, several of the moves of the day, putting the fiery bowling unit in a spot of bother.When he walked out, having scored 68, accessed several parts of the ground that fielders learnt about, it was more negative than positive for India. Their reliance, or overreliance in this case, came out true. In more ways than one, it yet again proved the same ol&rsquo; point.At this juncture, you really don&rsquo;t really need a soothsayer to say such things. You&rsquo;d think India&rsquo;s worries ended there, right? I mean, you are partially right. India&rsquo;s move of batting first pretty much turned out in the worst possible manner. Suryakumar was just a silver lining? Or was he more than that.&nbsp;**********Then came the tough part, India&rsquo;s bowling thus far have been inch-perfect. In fact, there is not a finger that you can raise over how they have performed with the white-ball thus far. Yet again, thus far being the keyword. When South Africa were in tatters, at 3/1, 8/2 and then 24/3, there was a sense of security amongst the Indian fans.<a href="https://www.cricket.com/news/aiden-markram-exclusive-our-quicks-love-bowling-to-virat-1667107297538" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Also read - Aiden Markram exclusive: &lsquo;Our quicks love bowling to Virat&rsquo;</a>And at the other end of that spectrum were the Proteas fans, who had a few prayers up their sleeve. <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/5313/david-miller/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Miller</a> and Aiden Markram were just two of them. It was a situation that was perfect for India, given that both Ashwin and Deepak Hooda provided them with the positive match-ups that they were looking for.<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1667145541732-articleimg" style="width: 700px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Before this clash, chuck that, before the start of the tournament, it was widely expected that the off-spinner would play a crucial role against Pakistan and South Africa. The night was perhaps best made for him, with the Proteas already tattering at 24/3. But then, his form took a hit. A major dip that no one saw coming.After his first three overs, the off-spinner had just bowled the one dot ball. After four overs, it was five dot-balls but having picked just the one wicket, you wouldn&rsquo;t be wrong to say that Ashwin failed when India needed him the most. Against a batting type that he would love a second round of a battle.If you think the misery was somewhere ending. It wasn&rsquo;t. Karthik, India&rsquo;s first-choice wicketkeeper limped off the field. In hindsight, India would have never wanted this to happen at the T20 World Cup, against a strong opposition. India could have gone 3/3 and sent out a strong message to the opposition. Rohit would be angry that India never challenged the Proteas enough, in Perth.&nbsp;Or maybe we are reading too much into it. But either way, all that could go wrong, went wrong for India. The only positive being: it came during early stages of the competition. But the familiarity of the issues indeed might be worrying.Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

India wanted to be far away from this day, the day where all their nightmares came true

Suryakumar Yadav

KL Rahul

Ravichandran Ashwin

Dinesh Karthik

ICC Men's T20 World Cup, Australia, 2022

All that could go wrong, went wrong for India


India have played six T20Is since the super-four stage of the 2022 Asia Cup, winning three and losing as many in this period. However, all those three defeats have come while defending targets.&nbsp;The Men in Blue have failed to defend totals of 181 (vs Pakistan), 173 (vs Sri Lanka) and 208 (vs Australia) in this time frame but Indian batting coach <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/2490/vikram-rathour/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vikram Rathour</a> doesn&rsquo;t want to be too harsh on the bowling unit and feels dew has played a major role in all those three encounters.&quot;We are working on that area of getting better at defending targets. But to be fair to our bowlers, toss plays a vital role and every time we have not been able to defend are the places where there has been dew, so it gets easier to chase,&quot; Rathour said on the eve of the <a href="https://www.cricket.com/series/international/2620/south-africa-tour-of-india-2022/matches" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first T20I against South Africa</a> in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday (September 28).&quot;I won&#39;t be harsh on bowlers as they have been able to push the match till last over, every time when we are looking to defend. It&#39;s one ball here and there, but of course we are doing pretty well, but hopefully we will get better.&quot;India were criticised heavily for being too conservative while batting first in the last edition of the T20 World Cup and have tried to be a lot more aggressive since then. Since 2022, India have the fourth-best scoring rate (9.3) in T20Is amongst the top-10 ranked sides. They have played 20 T20Is this year, while none of the other top-10 ranked nations have played more than 9.Rathour refused to agree that India aren&#39;t putting big enough targets when asked to bat first. &quot;Definitely, it depends on the surface that we are playing on but when you say we haven&#39;t been able to put up good scores, I don&#39;t agree with that.&quot;I think batting first was one of the concerns during the last T20 World Cup but since then, we have been putting up par or par plus scores every time that we have batted first. So I don&#39;t think that&#39;s an issue.&quot;India&#39;s top-three batters - <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/3852/rohit-sharma/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rohit Sharma</a>, <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/60122/kl-rahul/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">KL Rahul</a> and <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/3993/virat-kohli/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Virat Kohli</a> - have also started batting with a lot more intent in the first six overs and Rathour is happy with the shift in mindset. &quot;There is a very visible shift in the way we are batting. The approach has changed we are trying to be more aggressive, we are playing with better strike rates and more intent, that is pretty evident. As a batting unit, we have done well.&quot;Rathour said the team management don&#39;t really try to &quot;coach&quot; these players and just tell them to back their strengths. &quot;At this level, we are not telling them anything. Arsh (Arshdeep Singh) has done extremely well in IPL in death overs, so we just support them to follow plans. They know where to bowl to each batter and follow their plans.&quot;We expect them (bowling unit) to back their strengths. There are no specific areas I want Arshdeep to improve and he has the composure to handle pressure in difficult conditions.&quot;Talking about the conditions in Australia, he said: &quot;Adapting to Australian conditions will be the biggest challenge that we have. We want to give as many opportunities as possible to those playing in the World Cup but how that will happen depends on the game situation.&quot;(With inputs from PTI)Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

The Indian batting coach is happy with the shift in mindset of the top-order

vikram rathour

Indore pitch did more than we expected: Rathour

Rohit had to work hard for his runs: Vikram Rathour

SKY and Kishan need to wait for their opportunity: Rathour

Bangladesh Tests good preparation for Australia series: Rathour

All that could go wrong, went wrong for India

Working on getting better at defending targets: Vikram Rathour