Virat Kohli’s string of single-digit scores in the ongoing T20 World Cup is hardly a concern, as he has been in superb touch during nets and is looking hungrier than ever ahead of the Super Eight, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour said on Saturday.
Kohli, who was the highest run-scorer in the IPL, went through a dry run so far, scoring 1, 4 and 0 against Ireland, Pakistan, and the USA respectively.
The moment the question popped up at the post-match media conference after the game against Canada got washed out, Rathour was ready with the answer.
“I love it when every time I come there is a question about Virat Kohli, whether he is doing well or not. No concern at all, no concern at all,” Rathour said.
“He (Kohli) has been batting superbly from the tournament that he came from (IPL). Couple of dismissals here, doesn’t change anything, he is batting really well.” Rathour is confident that India’s No. 1 batter would come good when it matters the most.
“Actually, it’s good that he is a little hungrier, he is really keen to do well and really switched on. It’s a good space to be as a batsman, I think. Looking forward to some good games and we’ve watched some good innings from him.”
The batting coach sidestepped the query about whether playing four all-rounders, including Shivam Dube and Axar Patel, is cast in stone or not.
“Again, we need to be a flexible team. We need to look at the conditions that are in front of us and be ready to deal with those. So as a team, we are going to be really flexible, I think.
“We’ll react to what (conditions) we get on the day. We have enough sources in our team to deal with any kind of conditions,” he said.
Some game time in Florida ahead of Super Eights would have surely helped, he said.
“But if the game had happened that would have really helped us. We were really looking forward to playing a game, to play a good game of cricket. There’s always a concern when you play a game in conditions like this that some injury can happen. You’re already in Super 8 and that’s the last thing (injury) you want to happen before you enter the serious part of the tournament.”
Rathour admitted that the choc-a-bloc schedule of Super Eight with hardly any time between the games isn’t an ideal situation.
“Again, not ideal. It would have been great if we could have gotten a game today. But now this is what it is. So, we look forward to having a couple of good practice days in Barbados and getting into the game. So again, now the matches will happen simultaneously after one day.
“So, as a team I think we are ready. We are used to this kind of schedule. We have done it in the past and I am sure we will do it really well this time as well.” Rathour also felt that ICC should tell fans why the whole ground here wasn’t covered. This question should be asked to the ICC people. I won’t be able to answer that. I don’t know the reason why it was not covered and why it didn’t have enough covers to cover the whole ground.
“If they would have covered it, definitely that would have helped. But now it’s not there and this is what we’ve got.” The batting coach didn’t want to read too much into the New York drop-in strip which was hardly ideal for batting. It’s good. You should be able to play on all types of wickets. We have the skills to play in all types of conditions and do well. So, we have got the difficult wickets.
“Hopefully, we will get good wickets in the tournament. And if we get turning wickets, we have four spin options, we have enough fast bowlers as well. So, whichever conditions come, I think we are really equipped to deal with that,” the batting coach said.
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