Team India batting coach Vikram Rathour has stated that former Test deputy Ajinkya Rahane needs to convert his starts into big scores. However, he backed the struggling batter, saying that the team management will give him more opportunities.
However, India posted a sub-par total of 223 in the first innings of the deciding Test, with Ajinkya Rahane (9 off 12). He was the only batter in the top six to be dismissed for a single-digit score as well.
Despite being in poor form, he scored a fifty in the last Test and Rathour said that the Indian think tank is always there to back out-of-sorts players.
“No specific numbers are being discussed. He is trying his best, he is looking really, really good when he is batting in the nets and even when he is batting in the middle – he has played couple of useful innings in this series as well. The only concern is he needs to convert one of these starts into a big one, and that’s what he is trying,” he said at the post-day press conference.
“We just hope as a team management that he comes good in one of these innings. I can assure you that this management will want to give one extra chance than one less, so we will always err on that side, we will of course give one more opportunity than we think somebody deserves,” Vikram Rathour added.
Meanwhile, South Africa too lost their first wicket – Dean Elgar for 3 off 16 as Jasprit Bumrah managed to provide the breakthrough. And, South Africa ended Day 1 at Newlands on 17 for 1. Opener Aiden Markram is batting on 8 off 20, along with Keshav Maharaj on 6 off 12 as well.
He has a unique technique – Vikram Rathour on Mayank Agarwal
On the other hand, opener Mayank Agarwal too has been going through an off-form as he could manage only 15 of 35 after getting a thick edge to Markram at the second slip. However, Vikram Rathour admitted that Mayank should stick to his game while adding that he has the ability to score big once he gets set in the middle.
“That’s how he plays, that’s how he scores his runs. As I said earlier also, people have different techniques, so everyone has a unique technique and he has a unique technique. So he needs to just make some adjustments and get through the initial phase, and he’s somebody who has shown that once he gets a start, he has the temperament to make it big. Those are the conversations we have with him, he needs to back his technique, the way he bats,” Vikram Rathour concluded.
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