Team India’s newly batting coach, Vikram Rathour reckons that the young cricketers require a clear game plan and they need to play with intent, rather than being careless. During a media interaction on the even of the second T20I against South Africa, Rathour said the cricketers need to focus on the mindset.

Rathour said, “All the young guns need to understand that there’s a fine line between fearless cricket and careless cricket. What the team management is asking is fearless cricket — having clear game plans and play with intent, backing your strengths. At the same time, you cannot be careless.”

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Referring to the youngster, Rishabh Pant, who has been immensely criticized from the team’s head coach, Ravi Shastri, for his poor shot selections, Rathour said that Pant is a phenomenal player. He also said that the wicket-keeper batsman needs to figure out a game plan and also needs to bring in a little bit of discipline to his cricket.

Recently, coach Shastri and skipper, Virat Kohli had said that five matches are enough to judge young talents. Rathour also acknowledged that the youngsters will be backed to the hilt by the team management.

Rathour said, “They have said five matches, but they aren’t referring to a specific number. What they are trying to say is that you need to take your opportunities well when you get them. They have played so much cricket. They have come here after playing so well. I don’t think that’s a massive issue. The team management will be supporting them. They are tremendous cricketers — all of them.”

Though the batting coach also admitted that these are extremely early days for him, Rathour also reckons that seasoned campaigners like Rohit Sharma will be effective in all the formats of the game.

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Talking about Rohit, Rathour said, “He is too a good player to be not playing in any team. He has done so well as an opener in white-ball cricket, so don’t see any reason why he can’t do well in red-ball cricket as well, provided we provide him enough opportunities. If he comes good, it will be a huge asset for the team. We are fortunate to have so many all-rounders in this T20 team. In the past, we did not take T20s seriously but now we are preparing for the World Cup. These 20-21 games are very important. By batting deep, we can go harder in the beginning and we will be trying different things in the coming series and see what works for us.”