India's batting coach lists reasons for T20 World Cup struggle; cites bounce, pitch & more

Team India's batting coach Vikram Rathour explained the reasons for Indian batters' failure to perform in the ongoing T20 World Cup in UAE. Rathour pointed out that not only India but other sides batting first too have had a tough time and said that the pitch is definitely one of the factors behind the team's struggle.

India have lost both their matches in the T20 World Cup 2021 so far and in both the games, they were sent into bat after losing the toss. Speaking at a press conference, Rathour said that batting first on surfaces in the UAE has definitely been tough. 

"One of the factors is definitely the pitch. When you bat first on these surfaces, even though it doesn’t look uneven, there is variation in pace and bounce. So, strike rotation is an issue. It is not only with our team, I think for every team that has batted first, this has been an issue. Unfortunately, we were not able to execute the big shots well. That will happen once in a while. That happened to us in the last game when nobody could execute the big hits. But, as such, it is more to do with the surface" he said.

India lacked execution says Vikram Rathour

The team's batting coach also further went on to say that there has been no lag in the team's preparation and that people blaming the IPL for India's form isn't right. He further called the IPL a good platform to practice.

He said, "What happened in the past two games I think is that we haven’t been able to execute our plans the way we wanted to and that has been our issue, and not the preparation.

Any preparation is good preparation, I think. IPL does provide you with the platform where you compete against the top cricketers all around the world. So definitely it is a good platform to practice. I don’t see an issue there with us getting into the World Cup after playing IPL. I thought players got loads of games, they could work on their games."

Team India will now face Afghanistan in their next T20 World Cup clash in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, November 3 at 7.30 p.m. IST.

Image: PTI