Cricketing great and former Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar offered some valuable suggestions to the Indian batsmen as they gear up to play 6 Tests in England starting later this month.
Virat Kohli’s Test side will take on New Zealand in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final at the Ageas Bowl from June 18 before facing England in a series of 5 Tests from August 4.
Vengsarkar, who averaged nearly 43 in Test cricket in England during his playing career, warned the Indian batsmen against playing the big-booming drives outside off-stump against the moving ball and urged them to play with soft hands when they face the fast bowlers.
“The thing is that once you get acclimatized, the important factor is that, to counter the extra movement, especially off the wicket, it’s important to stay side-on (batting stance). Don’t go for big drives to start with because the ball moves quite a bit and if you go for a big drive when you see a half volley, you are likely to end up in slips or anywhere. So just push the ball rather than going for the big drives,” Vengsarkar told Khaleej Times.
“In England sometimes you get overcast conditions and the ball starts moving, then suddenly you get sunshine and it becomes a good batting wicket. You get different seasons in one day in England. So, you, as a batsman, are never settled. In India, once you are set and score 30 plus runs, you can score a big innings. But that doesn’t happen in England. You are never set as such, you know. The ball moves around quite a bit and you have to be careful.”
Vengsarkar also highlighted the importance of practice matches in England before the start of a big series, something which Team India won’t be doing before playing the WTC final in Southampton.
“It’s important to have matches. You have practice (net sessions), but the important thing is to have matches and spend time in the middle, not just for the batsmen, but for the fast bowlers and spinners as well. By spending time in the middle, they know what length to hit.
“That has been a problem for the past 10 years now. Look, when you go to Australia, England, and New Zealand, the conditions are so different. You need practice matches to get acclimated to the conditions.
“So it’s important for the BCCI also to organise more practice matches rather than having just one practice game before the start of the Test series. Otherwise, you struggle in the first Test match,” Vengsarkar said.
