India’s batters may be piling on the runs, but it’s their discipline—not just aggression—that’s impressing the coaching staff.
Ahead of the Lord’s Test, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak opened up on the team’s red-ball mindset, the art of avoiding “undue shots,” and why players like Rishabh Pant are allowed to break the mould.
Praising the Indian batters, Kotak highlighted that apart from X-factor players like Rishabh Pant, they have batted responsibly yet managed to score four runs per over.
"Our players are so skillful that even if they don't search for the runs, they are able to make a run with the average of four runs."
"So aggressive batting, 90 overs, 360 runs, if we are able to make it, that is aggressive batting only. But the mindset is that we will not look for boundaries."
"So if their skill is so good that even if they are playing on merit, they are able to make runs.. When you don't play undue shots, you are going to stay on the wicket for a long time."
What does he mean by undue shots?
“Undue shots mean if a batsman thinks that there is a lot of movement in the wicket and if I get an opportunity, I want to score runs because there is one good ball coming I may get out. That is, I think, a bad mindset for a red ball cricket."
“The skill the players possess because of the white ball cricket and T20s, when they get ball in their slots, they are converting into boundaries and sixes. They don't have to really think that I want to hit a boundary. That's what I think,” said Kotak.
However, for players like Pant, these rules don't apply.
“Every team will have some aggressive players who are very good at breaking opposition's momentum. So someone like Jaiswal who plays the way he plays. Someone like Rishabh."
"Rishabh actually talks to me a lot about what he does with the bat—what he does and why he does it. But during an innings, he prefers not to talk much, as he feels it shifts his mindset and can lead to wrong decisions," said Kotak.
“But that does not mean that he doesn't think. He does think, he does take decisions and when it goes wrong, it looks bad."
Lord's presents a unique challenge for the batters as well as the bowlers due to the slope. Kotak feels it is something the players should not worry about too much.
“It depends on the mindset. I have seen some players saying that they don't understand the slope."
“And some players feel that there are natural variations. Obviously, because of the slope, there will be some variations. But, after hitting the seam, there are some variations,” he said.