Vikram Rathour, the batting coach, said that if India makes an innings score of at least 250, it will put New Zealand under pressure, considering the prevailing conditions during the current WTC final.
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India finished the shortened second day with a score of 146 out of 3 when Virat Kohli was 44 out of 124 with Ajinkya Rahane 29, missing 79.
“We would like to score as many runs as possible but 250 plus will be a reasonable score in these conditions,” Rathour reported at the press conference.
The coach praised Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma, the openers, for seeing the new ball in an excellent manner while playing positively, adding 62 runs.
When Rathour was asked if the off-court position should hold up swinging or take more attack shots, he said the following: “Batting is about scoring runs. Rohit and Gill showed a lot of intent and looked to score wherever they could.
“Hats off to Virat and Rahane for the manner in which they batted but a lot of credit should also go to the openers.”
The former player for India’s national team believes that once the Dukes’ ball aged a bit, it started to swing a lot more and thus the batting score became a bit harder than it was when the players batted the ball.
“I think when the ball got a bit older, it started swinging more. Also the New Zealand pacers hit good areas during the second session.”
Rathour also dismissed claims that Cheteshwar Pujara had some technical problems, taking at least four hits to his helmet in recent test matches.
“We are not really concerned and he is a good player. I don’t think pace is an issue with him. Till he batted, he looked solid and he has a role to play in the team.
“Today also, he played 50 odd balls. He just needs to convert those starts. It’s going to happen very soon,” Rathour added.