Vikram Rathour, former national selector and present-day batting coach has seen his share of highs and lows with the Indian team. From having to live with a 36 all out in Adelaide to eventually winning the series, followed by a win over England at home, it’s been a rollercoaster.
Vikram Rathour spoke with TOI at length, underlining the team’s batting philosophy, individuals at the helm, and the big picture going forward.
Vikram Rathour: No Team Can Have 11 Cheteshwar Pujaras And 11 Rishabh Pants And It Takes A Pant And A Pujara To Make Winning Combination
Vikram Rathour, a former Indian cricketer who played in 6 Tests and 7 ODIs from 1996 to 1997 was a right-handed opening batsman. He was a prolific run-scorer at the first-class level, scoring 11473 runs at an average of 49.66 in 146 matches. This included several fluent, stroke-filled centuries. His List A career was more modest, with him scoring just over 3000 runs in 99 matches. He is currently the batting coach for the Indian cricket team.
“Learning has been a constant and that’s been the case not only in this job. Even when it was about coaching a state team or being associated with the IPL as a coach, it was constant learning,” said Vikram Rathour on learning as a coach.
” I think, as a good coach, as a good batting coach, you need to be able to deal with multiple aspects of batting. We sometimes over-emphasize the importance of technique.
“Yes, I believe the most important thing with coaching is communication.Players will have different temperaments, different ways to learn things. So, I think communication or man-management, as we say, is the key to coaching at this level,” said Vikram Rathour on aspects of coaching.
” Whether it’s Pujara or Pant, each of them has a different mindset, different work ethics, and listening to them is the only way for me to understand them and their thoughts. Pujara is extremely determined, very gritty and very disciplined while Pant is fearless, has a lot of fun, loves taking his chances.
“Now, no team can have eleven Pujaras and eleven Pants, right? It always takes a Pant and a Pujara together to make a winning combination,” Vikram Rathour maintained.
Against Australia, in 2020-21, Cheteshwar Pujara scored 271 runs in 4 matches at an average of 33.87. As he played at a strike rate of 29.20, his intent was under heavy scrutiny.
Rishabh Pant scored 274 runs at an average of 68.50 in five innings for India against Australia. The keeper continued his form against England where he hit 270 runs at an average of 54.00. His strike rate was 69.9 against Australia and 84.11 against England.
Vikram Rathour: Virat Kohli’s Adaptability Is His Biggest Quality And His Work Ethics Are Second To None
Labelled as the run-machine of Indian cricket, the 32-year-old Virat Kohli has some of the biggest records to his name. In terms of international centuries, he is only behind Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.
“Virat is, of course, the best there in the world. His records speak for him. The kind of talent and consistency he’s shown is there for all of us to see. His work ethics are second to none.
“But for me, the biggest quality I see in Virat, and I’ve said it before too, is his adaptability. In that aspect, he’s unique. He is someone who can effortlessly shift gears and change his game depending on the situation and that is his biggest quality,” said Vikram Rathour.
India travelled to Australia with a jumbo contingent. The team is now set to fly to England with a 25-member squad.
“People competing for slots is good. Healthy competition at any level is always good. Anybody who goes through the ranks and reaches this level to get into the Indian team has made a huge achievement, ” said Vikram Rathour.
“Rohit Sharma is a man finally in control of himself, his thoughts, what he wants to achieve and where he wants to head from here. Rohit always had the game and the talent to be successful even in Test cricket.He always had a terrific game plan and method that made him such a prolific run-getter in shorter formats. In Test cricket, he’s just starting. If he keeps going like this, we’ll be seeing a different Rohit in Test cricket. His best is still to come,” said Vikram Rathour on Rohit Sharma.
“In my understanding, you’ve got to appreciate what the IPL has done in this space. It has given the platform where India’s new and upcoming talent is getting an opportunity to compete alongside or against the best in the world. Look at the exposure you’re getting. Suddenly, everybody is as good as the other and a huge credit for that must go to the IPL,” crediting IPL’s success.
“So, a Rishabh Pant comes in, does phenomenally well, and overshadows everything else. Yet, at the same time, there’s a Sanju Samson and an Ishan Kishan vying for that space but have to wait now,” on wicket-keepers
“I believe this generation is still very fortunate because they have alternatives. There’s so much cricket outside of what the Indian team plays. There’s the IPL. You have domestic cricket where you get to play a lot of cricket, you have India ‘A’ team tours. Look at the team India’s sending to Sri Lanka, for instance.
“Even with some of the main players busy in England series you will still have a very strong team and that’s a great sign for Indian cricket, that we have that kind of a talent pool at our disposal,” Rathour spoke on bench strength.
“To be very honest, we saw it as a freak incident. That very evening, and the following day, we were already busy moving on. A lot of credit there goes to Virat, Ravi and the rest of the team management. We spoke about what we had to do and that was it. The focus began shifting to what was coming next. If you look at that innings carefully, nobody got out to bad shots. They got out to some very good bowling,” said Vikram Rathour on 36 all-out.
“After the first Test match, many of the experts had written us off. Virat was leaving. Ajinkya was taking over as captain for the next Test. The responsibility was multi-fold. That Test match showed how good a player Ajinkya is. I understand that numbers matter, but at the same time it is the quality of the runs that you have scored and the situation you have scored them in.” on Ajinkya Rahane’s poor form after his 112 in Melbourne Test
“In Cheteshwar’s case, it is his grit and determination that drives him. He has strong routines and he always sticks to them. It shows in his batting as well,” on Pujara.
“Yes, there’s been a conscious effort to get the tail to bat more. Already, there have been some elements the team has benefited greatly from,” said Vikram Rathour on tailenders batting.
“Yes, the WTC final is a World Cup and that’s how it should be looked at. Both teams have worked hard over 24 months to get here.It’s a neutral venue for both teams, so one can look forward to a good contest,” on WTC final.
Team India managed to defeat Australia 2-1 in the four-match Test series despite missing players like Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Hanuma Vihari, and KL Rahul during different parts of the contest. Several young players who debuted in the series like Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan, Shubman Gill, and Washington Sundar stepped up to the mark and performed exceptionally for India.
In the 4th Test, Shubman Gill’s 91, Rishabh Pant’s 89*, and Cheteshwar Pujara’s 56 handed Australia their first defeat at Gabba in 32 years as India won consecutive Test series in Australia by a 2-1 margin.