Ahead of the third Test at Trent Bridge, Indian head coach, Ravi Shastri urged that the Indian batsmen need to look ugly and show some grit if India had to turn the tide in the series against England. He also said that Indian captain Virat Kohli is feeling much better after being troubled by a back issue during the second Test match. 

With Dinesh Karthik’s performance with the bat has been pretty poor, there has been a speculation about whether Rishabh Pant will be given a go. However, Shastri said, “About Rishabh Pant you will know at 11 o’clock day after.”

The India coach also came in support of under-fire batsman Ajinkya Rahane saying it was not fair to single out any one player. He even expressed that batsmen from both the teams are struggling and it is a case of mental resolve. He said that the batting conditions have been tough, but also accepted the fact that this it time when a player needs to show his character. He said that Indian batsmen must be ready to leave a lot of balls and prepare to look ugly and dirty and show some grit.

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While acknowledging the return of the English all-rounder, Ben Stokes, Shastri said that Team India is looking forward to playing against the top cricketers. He said, “If it is cleared by courts, what is the reason for him not to play? If I was the coach, I would have played him.”

Ravi Shastri also acknowledged the fact that they missed the trick at Lord’s by playing two spinners, he elaborated, “Then again, we didn’t know how much it would rain, whether a match would go into the final day and spinners would have come handy. But in hindsight, the amount of rain, the amount of time we lost, seamer could have been a better option.”

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Currently, Team India is trailing the 5-match Test series by 0-2 and in order to keep their hopes alive in the series, they have to win at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.