"It's not something..." - Vikram Rathour's verdict on India batters playing reverse sweeps vs England

India faced a humiliating 28-run defeat against England in the first Test of the five-match series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The Indian team fell cheaply against England spinners and were wrapped up for a score of 202 runs in the second innings. India grabbed a lead of over 150 runs in the first innings but ended up losing the match despite being favorites to win the match.

While the Rohit Sharma-led side gear up for the second Test match in Visakhapatnam, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour has stated that the team will continue their attacking approach against England‘s ‘bazball’ tactics. The sweep shot was used as a weapon by the England batsmen against the lethal Indian spin attack.

Vikram Rathour while speaking at the pre-match press conference stated that it is not very easy to execute the sweep shot. Rathour said that the sweep shot requires a lot of preparation. Vikram Rathour further said that the Indian team will be playing only one type of cricket in the second match which is straight and using the feet. This also makes the Indian batsmen not play any sweep shots during the match.

Vikram Rathour on India’s tactics against England’s ‘bazball’

Vikram Rathour said, “It is not something that you can try, you need to be prepared. Of course if you can add more shots to your game it is always beneficial. You are right we play in a traditional way, our strengths and strong areas are going straight using our feet if we can add shots and score runs square of the wicket that is always a good addition.” 

England didn’t start well during the first Test match and were only able to score 246 runs in the first innings. England captain Ben Stokes was the highest run-scorer in the first innings and played an innings of 70 runs from 88 balls. The English batsmen gave away their eight wickets out of ten to the Indian spinners.

The Rohit Sharma-led side put up a brilliant batting performance in their first innings and put up a first-innings score of 436 runs. Indian batsmen Yashasvi Jaiswal (80), KL Rahul (86), and Ravindra Jadeja (87) ended up being the highest run scorer of the Indian innings.

However, Ollie Pope (199) led England’s brilliant comeback in the second innings and ensured that the team took a first-innings lead of 230 runs. Pope became the batsman to have the fourth-highest score in the history of international cricket in the second innings by a visiting batter. Ollie Pope will want to repeat his performance in the second match in Vizag.

Chasing down the target, the Indian batsmen put up a flop batting show. The Rohit Sharma-led side got off to a decent start but Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed soon for 15 runs and was not able to repeat the first innings performance. Apart from Jaiswal, Indian captain Rohit Sharma was also not able to convert his start into a big score and got out for 39 runs. KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were dismissed cheaply.

The Rohit Sharma-led side slumped to the 5th spot in the World Test Championship 2023-25 standings and will want to recover the damage in the second Test match.