India’s batting coach, Vikram Rathour came in defense of the Indian batters after their flop show against Australia on Day 1 of the ongoing third Test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy at the HoIkar stadium in Indore. The Indian batters failed to put up a challenge with the bat against Australia’s troika – Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon, and Todd Murphy. Kuhnemann was too hot to handle for the hosts on a tricky batting surface as he claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

India got bundled out for just 109 in just 33.2 overs as the former Indian skipper, Virat Kohli turned out to be the highest scorer for the host – 22 runs in 52 balls. The Asian Giants have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 4-match series but they have not yet sealed a place in World Test Championship Final.

“It was an off day for our batting, no one played a rash shot for anything,” Vikram Rathour said in the press conference after Day 1’s play.

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The batting coach also came in defense of the star duo Rohit Sharma (12) and Virat Kohli (22) who failed to convert starts into big scores in tough conditions. As per the quotes in News18, He said, “This is how Rohit bats, he likes to take the bowlers on. Today it didn’t come off. These are challenging wickets but as a team we prefer to play on these wickets. Virat has looked really good.”

Talking about the pitch conditions in Indore, India’s batting coach suggested that it was drier than the hosts expected which took everyone by a surprise.

Elaborating the same, Vikram Rathour said, “We prefer to play on turning tracks… this is one-off wicket. Today was drier than we expected and it did a lot more.”

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The batting coach also praises the Australian spinners for hitting the right areas on the dry surface to outclass the Indian batters at their den. He asserted that India needs to restrict Australia early on Day 2 and do well in the 2nd innings to make a case for themselves in this match.

Vikram Rathour explained, “They have the lead but they need to bat fourth. So we need to get them out soon and bat really well in our second innings.”