Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane And Virat Kohli's Numbers Have Dipped In The Last 2-2.5 Years So Where's The Batting Coach? – Aakash Chopra
Published - 18 Jan 2022, 07:35 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:03 AM
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has blamed India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour for the decline in the batting performance of senior batters, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said that everyone has taken credit for the improvement in India’s bowling unit and asked “who is responsible for the batting decline?”.
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“Everyone has taken credit for India’s bowling improvement. Some people gave credit to Virat Kohli, some to Bharat Arun, some to Ravi Shastri. Everyone said, ‘Indian bowling has improved a lot’. But who is responsible for the batting decline?
“If you are taking credit then responsibility needs to be taken as well. The decline is palpable. Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli’s numbers have dipped in the last 2-2.5 years so where’s the batting coach?” he said.
Chopra added that batting coach Vikram Rathour has been with the team for a very long time and it needs to be looked at whether he’s doing his job adequately, if not India need to find out the shortcomings and address that.
“The batting coach has the responsibility and the buck has to stop somewhere. Vikram Rathour, who is with the team for quite some time, you need to look at him again whether he’s doing his job well and if not then what are the shortcomings and how is he addressing them.”
We’ve failed to create a leadership group – Aakash Chopra
Cricketer-turned-commentator mentioned that the job has become difficult for head coach Rahul Dravid with Virat Kohli stepping down as India’s Test captain.
“It’s difficult for the coach because he’s a new coach. If he had been there for a long time then he would have a blueprint ready for the new captain. Now there’s a new captain, a new coach and they have to travel a new path.
“In cricket, the captain is the most important and the coach is just below him. But in such situations, the coach goes up and the captain comes a bit behind him because there’s a guarantee of the coach’s continuity. The coach is suddenly like a football manager with an enhanced role,” Chopra asserted.
Aakash Chopra further added that India have failed to create a leadership group. He said that Ajinkya Rahane was being looked at as the successor of Test captain Kohli despite his poor performance with the bat last year and India didn’t look anywhere else.
” We’ve failed to create a leadership group, honestly speaking. If Ajju had been in good form it would have been a natural succession. That was certainly a plan but his performances were on a downswing in the last two years and we were not ready to look at anywhere else because we believed that Kohli is going to continue for a long time. That didn’t happen and there’s been a slight mismanagement.”
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