"Reach Indore early and practice on those wickets" - Virat Kohli's childhood coach advices Indian batters
Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma believes that Team India should reach Indore early ahead of the third Test against Australia, which will be played in Indore from March 1.
During a discussion on India News Sports, Sharma opined that the Indian batters must start their practice early to get used to the wicket at the Holkar Cricket Stadium.
He pointed out that with Australia unlikely to make any changes to their bowling line-up, Rohit Sharma and Co. know exactly what to expect in the upcoming Test.
"The Indian batters should reach Indore early and practice on those wickets," he said. "This will give them a clear idea of how the pitch is going to behave here. It is likely that Australia will continue playing with three spinners. The batters can keep that in mind and prepare accordingly."
Virat Kohli and KL Rahul needs to find their form back in Test cricket 🤯
#CricketTwitter #indvsaus #india https://t.co/JBkeioK9s5
Notably, India's top-order batters have struggled to convert their starts so far in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. Apart from skipper Rohit Sharma, who played a stunning 120-run knock in the first Test in Delhi, the performances of the other big guns have been quite underwhelming.
"We must acknowledge that our batting has been quite weak" - Saba Karim on the form of Indian batters
Speaking in the aforementioned video, former keeper-batter Saba Karim suggested that the form of India's top-order batters has been a major cause for concern.
He pointed out how the Indian batters struggled to get going in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh in December 2022. The 55-year-old claimed that the team will have to address the issue to be able to win the World Test Championship (WTC) final, adding:
"There is still some scope for improvement in India's batting. The pitches that were used in the first two Tests weren't in any way unplayable ones. You can score runs on such surfaces, and our lower middle order has proved that. Our top order struggled even during the Bangladesh tour, where we won the second match because of Ravichandran Ashwin's batting.
"This shows that the performance of the top order is a concern. When we talk about preparing for the WTC final, we must acknowledge that our batting has been quite weak."
Rajkumar Sharma also echoed the same sentiments as Karim, urging the batters to be more responsible. He highlighted how the team's lower-order batters have shown that one can score runs on these kinds of pitches.
He elaborated:
"There hasn't been a lot of talk about our top order as we have taken a 2-0 lead in the series. The conditions have been difficult for batting, but if our all-rounders can score runs, then why can't our top order batters?
"The batters need to take on more responsibility because we all know that they are capable of doing well here. Barring Rohit Sharma's hundred, we haven't seen any big knocks from our top order. I believe that all our players are very mature, and they know that they need to score big runs."
History - India becomes the first team to retain the BGT for 4th consecutive time.
Meanwhile, Rohit and Co. beat Australia by six wickets in Delhi to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match Test series. With the victory, the hosts have retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the fourth straight time.