Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are copping maximum criticism for being walking wickets during the ongoing Test series against Australia but even Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant haven’t shown the patience needed to survive Down Under, indicating a larger problem. Patience is a virtue that one develops over time and Kohli had once showed how it’s done during his golden phase between 2014 and 2019. KL Rahul, blessed with sound technique, has displayed that during the current series with scores of 77 and 84 in Perth and Brisbane.
In case of Jaiswal, save his second innings knock of 161 at Perth, a shuffle across the crease is making him a candidate for leg-before.
Gill loves to play on the rise outside the off-stump and away from his body and could be impatient when one bowls the stump and even for Pant, a compulsive stroke player, the ball that leaves him from five metre length with adequate bounce, is creating issues.
So, will head coach Gautam Gambhir and his deputy Abhishek Nayar, who is highly regarded in Mumbai cricket circuit for being a “Mind Coach and Life Coach rolled into one”, do anything about it? A former India great, who didn’t wish to be named, offered his perspective.
“Not all great players or players of repute happen to be great coaches. They might have done some incredible things as players and knew what to do and how to react during a particular situation,” the veteran of 100-plus Tests said.
“But coaching is science and not many can tell why certain things need to be done. Even Gautam used to play with hard hands and dab towards slips in Australia and England.
“You can still work with younger guys but difficult to mould the older ones who don’t get enough time to work on their game in a packed calender,” he added.
Watching the dismissals of especially Kohli in Australia, which seemed like a replay of previous ones, has led to growing concerns.
Everyone understands the technical flaw, but can anyone provide the corrective measures to break the rut? Rohit, barring the England tour in 2021, he does not really have a track record in SENA countries in Tests. But with Kohli, the problem of reaching for deliveries on and outside the off-stump has resurfaced once again and has been a persistent issue for quite some time.
Sanjay Manjrekar‘s tweet is worth taking note of.
“I guess the time has come to scrutinise the role of a batting coach in the Indian team. Why major technical issues have remained unresolved for so long with certain Indian batters?” he asked.
Manjrekar’s view raises questions on the role of Sanjay Bangar, Vikram Rathour, and now Nayar. Their official designation might be assistant coach, but they essentially are batting coaches.
Devang Gandhi, who was a touring selector between 2016-17 to 2020-21, had a more nuanced take compared to the veteran India star.
“It would be very easy to target Nayar as a low hanging fruit or for that matter Gautam,” Gandhi, who has coached the Delhi Ranji team and Bengal U-19, told PTI during a conversation.
“But they have just come into system. To discuss or nudge a player, first you need to be around for some time and once there is some kind of mutual trust between the two, you can offer him solutions. But at this level, it is more about the experienced player’s own mental make-up.”
So what is Kohli’s problem? Gandhi, a former Test opener and an NCA Level-2 coach, believes it’s all about his mental approach.
“…if you watch his training videos that are available for public, I find him doing all the right things. During training he is playing close to his body. But the moment it is the match situation, the hands are moving towards those channel deliveries like conditioned reflex or muscle memory,” he explained.
Gandhi then blamed it on the rising T20 engagements.
“The moment his bat is away from the body, the bat-face will open up towards cover. Now this is a white ball problem of hitting through the line. In India the ball will hit the bottom of the bat but in Australia, it will towards the upper part.
“What solution can Gambhir or Nayar possibly give, apart from telling him to not play those deliveries? After 30 Test hundreds, Virat doesn’t need to be told that but at 36, does he have that patience to accept that now if he scores a hundred, it will be off 200 balls and not 140 like earlier times? Can he bide those extra 60 balls?,” Gandhi questioned.
Sachin Tendulkar‘s epic 241 in the 2004 New Year’s Test in Sydney is often cited as a prime example of patience. He didn’t hit a single cover drive until he scored his double hundred.
“It’s about controlling the mind. You can be a sounding board for players like Tendulkar and Kohli but at this stage, you can’t coach them. Coaching happens at junior level,” Gandhi added.
But can a Gambhir or Nayar help Kohli find a solution? “Of course, at some point, honest conversations are necessary. But first, they should ask him what his corrective options are and then offer their own if they have something different to contribute,” Gandhi concluded.
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