Batting coach Vikram Rathour rued Indian batters' dismal show in the second innings of the ongoing Edgbaston Test as England bounced back in the match despite being outplayed for the first three days.

The visitors were on 125/3 in the second innings at the close of play on Day 3, extending their lead to 257. However, they collapsed in the morning session on Day 4 to get bowled out for 245, failing to post a target of over 400.

Chasing 378 to win, the hosts were on 259/3 at stumps on Day 4, needing 119 more runs to win the Test match and draw the series 2-2.

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Speaking after the day's play, Rathour said that the tourists could have batted England out of the game but they had an "ordinary" day.

"The plans didn't work out. I'll agree that we had a pretty ordinary day as far as batting is concerned," Rathour said while addressing a press conference. "We were ahead in the game. We were in a position where we really could've batted them out of the game. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. A lot of people got starts but really couldn't convert. We were expecting one of them to play a big knock and have a big partnership but unfortunately it didn't happen like that."

The likes of Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur fell to England's short-ball ploy and Rathour said Indian batters needed to be smart.

"Yes, they used a short-ball plan against us in the field. We had to show a little better, not intent, but strategy. We could've handled it slightly differently," Rathour said. "People tried to play shots but didn't really convert or execute them well enough. They got out to that. We will have to rethink how we handle that next time in a similar situation, against similar bowlers who keep similar fields. We will need to have a better strategy against them."

"Of course, at this level you expect people to bowl short against us, and especially against the Indian team, people have been using short ball for quite some time," he added.

"People have their own ways of dealing with that. As a batsman you have your own way to deal with that. We don't really say you have to do this or do that. As a batter you need to decide, according to your game, what suits you in that situation and in those conditions. Unfortunately, today we couldn't really execute whatever plans we had.

"Today was the day we were ahead. We should have actually batted better and put them out of the game with our batting. But unfortunately we didn't do that."

Joe Root (76*) and Jonny Bairstow (72*) were unbeaten in the middle for England at the conclusion of fourth day's play, having already added 150 runs for the fourth wicket.

Rathour is confident that the bowlers can bring India back into the match.

"Two wickets in the morning early and again the game will open up. We know that, we understand the game, it is a big target still. It's still more than 100 runs. We take two wickets early and the game can still open up," he said. "The kind of bowling Shami and Bumrah are doing, it's not beyond them that they get one wicket, then one, two, three can fall. And that can bring us back in the game."

(With Firspost inputs)