They Are The Guys Who Will Go From Ball One In T20Is: Vikram Rathour Names Two Game-Changing Players For India

India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour has quite a few selection headaches ahead of the five-match T20I series against England and the T20 World Cup later this year. However, those are none that are close to being worrisome. Earlier, Vikram Rathour revealed that India should know the T20 World Cup team by the time the England T20Is finishes. He has also shed light on the roles of Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant.

Keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant earned a recall to India’s T20I setup following his compelling performances in Test cricket. The 23-year old’s decision to stick to his natural gameplay has worked incredibly well and the Indian team that the same yields dividends in the shortest format. On the other hand, Hardik Pandya’s spot in the side is fixed as their primary finisher. With the 27-year old getting close to full fitness, he could also give Virat Kohli four overs with the ball.

Vikram Rathour underlined that Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya could capitalize on good starts by going after the opposition from ball one. On the other hand, the 51-year old believes that the pair could also stick around and score at six per over if the team needs it. Thus, Rathour feels that a batting line-up needs to adapt to any situations that come before them, mainly ahead of the ICC tournaments.

“Yeah, that will depend (their role). If both of them are playing and if you get a good start, so they are the guys who will go from ball one. Those are the guys who are capable of doing that. That’s the discussion we have been having: what the team requires at that point. If your team requires you to score 12 an over you should be able to do that, and if your team requires you to get 6 runs an over and win the game, you should be able to do that as well. So you need to be able to adapt to both situations, and that is what a good game-plan is,” Vikram Rathour told ESPN Cricinfo.

I find no reason to change Rohit Sharma’s game at this point: Vikram Rathour

Vikram Rathour praised Rohit Sharma by stating that he has a set game-plan, which has given him success and finds no reason to change it. Rathour dissected the opener’s strategy by revealing that he gets set and scores big. Thus, the batting coach wants Rohit to stick to that as it has been fruitful.

“Yes. Somebody like Rohit has a very set game-plan and he has been extremely successful following that game-plan. So I would not really want him to change that. He is somebody who takes his time initially, gets set first, and then scores big. That has worked well for us. That has worked well for him. So I absolutely find no reason to change that at this point,” he added.

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