Former BCCI chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar has offered some valuable suggestions to the Indian batsmen ahead of their England tour.
Team India is all set to cross swords against New Zealand in the final of the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship, to be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton from June 18.
The Virat Kohli led-side then will take on hosts England in the five-match Test series, starting 4th August.
Ahead of Team India’s all-important England tour, where they will face New Zealand and the Three Lions, former BCCI chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar warned the Indian batsmen to be careful outside their off-stump.
In an interaction with Khaleej Times, Dilip Vengsarkar advised Indian batsmen to counter the extra movement of the ball and avoid playing drives at the start and push the ball rather than playing cover drives.
"The thing is that once you get acclimatized, the important factor is that, to counter the extra movement, especially of 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," Dilip Vengsarkar told Khaleej Times.
Vengsarkar said a batsman faces a variety of different conditions in the space of a day in England. He further observed that unlike in India, a batsman is never really set in England because the ball can start swinging and seaming anytime.
"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 inning. 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,” he said.
Vengsarkar pointed out that both batsmen and bowlers need to have some game time. He added that in SENA countries conditions are different which is why practice is important to get used to conditions.
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"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,” he said.
Dilip Vengsarkar further said that BCCI should organise practice games for Team India before the start of the Test series otherwise they’ll struggle in the first match.
"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," he concluded.
(Khaleej Times inputs)
