Vikram Rathour eager to help out Team India's batsmen
The Indian cricket team's new batting coach Vikram Rathour is keen to help out the batsmen and is preparing to have a lot of discussions. Rathour replaced Sanjay Bangar as India's batting coach after being selected by the BCCI recently. The 50-year-old also backed Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey to do well in ODIs. Here's what Rathour said.
Rathour opened up to BCCI in an interview to analyze what he will offer to the Indian cricket team. The former Indian cricketer was a heavyweight for Punjab and also played six Tests and seven ODIs in 1996. He has solid experience as a coach as well. Rathour stated that he will try to understand the mindset of the batsmen and their decisions.
"I see myself supporting the team in whichever way I can," Rathour said. "I will be working with the batters and I will be there to provide any technical help they might need. I think there will be a lot of discussions. I will be trying to understand their mindset and understand the decisions they will be making when they are batting."
India's next assignment is against South Africa. They will play three T20Is and three Test matches. Rathour stated that he wants to prepare the batsmen in an ideal way. "My prime job will be to prepare them in an ideal way before a series or a match. I will try and replicate things as close to the real scenario and get them ready."
India's primary issue lies in the middle order in ODI cricket. The constant hunt for a dependable number four batsman has been a story for a long time now. India never quite managed to nail down a player to don the role. However, this is one major challenge that Rathour will face. He has backed Iyer and Pandey to be the guiding force.
"The middle-order in one-day is not doing well and we must, of course, sort it out," he said. "Shreyas has done well in the last couple of games and we also have Manish Pandey. These are the batters who are capable of doing the job."
Rathour also claimed that he doesn't want players to be scared of making mistakes. "I want to create an environment where players aren't scared of making mistakes, where mistakes are not looked down upon because they are learning opportunities. You can fail once in a while, but you must learn from your failures and get better," he said.
Rathour will also face a challenge in getting someone like a KL Rahul to get his confidence back in Tests. Rahul has been horrible in the longest format since 2018. The main idea will be to work in tandem with the head coach and skipper Virat Kohli. One expects Rathour to gain success and work hard towards India's development across formats.
