Team India is in mandatory quarantine in England before having a face-off with New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) final from June 18.
Media outlets and cricketing analysts are on the edges of their seats predicting the winners of the grand event. Amid such varied opinions, former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar offered valuable advice for Indian players.
Vengsarkar, who had a propensity to drive, suggested that Virat Kohli & Co. shouldn’t go for drives since the ball swings too much in England.
“The thing is that once you get acclimatized, the important factor is that, to counter the extra movement, especially off 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,” Vengsarkar told Khaleej Times.
The former Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) selector further added that the batsmen would have to be on their toes since the changing weather conditions could change the amount of movement of the ball.
“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 innings. 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,” Vengsarkar enunciated.
The 65-year-old remarked that India’s apex body should facilitate more practice matches before the team dons the white jersey, and even the bowlers should try to spend more time on the pitch to calculate the exact lengths to hit the deck.
“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,” Vengsarkar asserted.
