Former India player and Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar has given some important suggestions to the Indian batsmen before their 6 Tests in England which is all set to begin later this month.
Virat Kohli led Team India will play against New Zealand in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final at the Ageas Bowl from June 18. After that, they will play against England in a five-match Test series from August 4. And, the veteran has warned the Indian batsmen against playing the drives outside off-stump against the moving ball and asked them to play with soft hands while facing the fast bowlers as well.
“The thing is that once you get acclimatized, the important factor is that, to counter the extra movement, especially off the wicket, it’s important to stay side-on (batting stance). Don’t go for big drives to start with because the ball moves quite a bit and if you go for a big drive when you see a half volley, you are likely to end up in slips or anywhere. So just push the ball rather than going for the big drives,” Dilip Vengsarkar told Khaleej Times.
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He continued: “In England sometimes you get overcast conditions and the ball starts moving, then suddenly you get sunshine and it becomes a good batting wicket. You get different seasons in one day in England. So, you, as a batsman, are never settled. In India, once you are set and score 30 plus runs, you can score a big innings. But that doesn’t happen in England. You are never set as such, you know. The ball moves around quite a bit and you have to be careful.”
Dilip Vengsarkar also shared the importance of practise matches in England. Notably, Team India won’t get any before the much-awaited summit clash. On the other hand, New Zealand have been playing against England in a two-match Test series before the WTC Final.
“It’s important to have matches. You have practice (net sessions), but the important thing is to have matches and spend time in the middle, not just for the batsmen, but for the fast bowlers and spinners as well. By spending time in the middle, they know what length to hit,” he again shared.
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“That has been a problem for the past 10 years now. Look, when you go to Australia, England, and New Zealand, the conditions are so different. You need practice matches to get acclimated to the conditions. So it’s important for the BCCI also to organise more practice matches rather than having just one practice game before the start of the Test series. Otherwise, you struggle in the first Test match,” Dilip Vengsarkar concluded.
