On yet another low scoring day of the Test series, India fought their way to 231 for 7 after winning the toss at the Feroz Shah Kotla. It was the first time in the series that the team batting first did not get dismissed on the first day. And India have Ajinkya Rahane to thank for that.
After scores of 15, 2, 13 and 9 in his previous four innings in the series, Rahane showed tremendous grit to finish day-one unbeaten on 89. India’s batting coach, Sanjay Bangar, was impressed with the way Rahane had modified his approach in this innings to end a short string of low scores.
“In the last two Test matches he was slightly hurrying through his shots early on in his innings,” Bangar said of Rahane. “But he has reworked his strategy now, wherein he is willing to spend a lot of time in the middle during the initial stage of his innings and looking for the loose balls.
“This may sound very clichéd but that is the key to batsmanship in the longer format of the game –Give the initial time to the bowlers, get used to the pace of the wicket. And Ajinkya’s innings today was a classic example of how you can do it. All credit to Ajinkya for the way he turned things around today after low scores in the first two Tests. It speaks a lot of his character,” Bangar said.
While Bangar praised one Mumbai lad, he jumped to defend another. Rohit Sharma has been under the scanner for a long time now due to his tendency to blow hot and cold in Test cricket. In the only Test he played in this series, in Nagpur, Rohit had scores of 2 and 23, and he got out for 1 in Delhi trying to loft one over long-on.
India’s batting coach said Rohit needs to be given a long rope for his batting abilities to come to the fore in full bloom.
“All the players in the current lot are immensely talented and have worked very hard to get to where they are. As far as days like today are concerned, if a player makes a mistake, he is hurting more than anyone, as all committed players do.
“Rohit has come off a T20 century and an ODI century. He hasn’t played too many Test matches in a row and that affects a batsman. We need to show faith in him, give him successive opportunities and then assess. I am sure that whatever he has done so far in the longest format, he would definitely want to do more.
“We make the player aware about his mistakes, whether it is temperamental, technical or tactical. We do make them aware of where the deficiencies are creeping in. Also, there are some players who take time to blossom. Take Sri Lankan cricket for instance. Guys like Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara. They stuck with them and eventually these guys served their country for long period with distinction. Patience has to be shown with players and with the talent that these guys possess they are bound to succeed,” Bangar said.
With Rahane and Ashwin (6) as the two overnight batsmen at the crease, Bangar said the first goal for the team would be to bat out the morning session. He seemed optimistic of India’s chances of doing that given the vital and regular contributions from their lower order batsmen in the recent couple of series.
“If we bat out the first session tomorrow, it will be a good effort from us,” Bangar said. ”One positive thing that we have seen in the recent times is the way the lower order has been contributing with the bat. Earlier we had this issue where our lower order wasn’t scoring runs. But the improvement that they have shown in Sri Lanka and even here, scoring crucial runs, is a positive thing for us.”
