Indian batters were seen training hard in the nets ahead of the second Test against England, starting on February 2, Friday at Dr. Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. A few batters were seen practicing the sweep and reverse shots continuously. It was the batting unit that led India down in the first Test and many Cricket experts and fans feel that the Indian batters would bounce back strong in the second Test to level the series.

The declining form of Indian batters Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer dominated Wednesday’s pre-match news conference for the second Test between India and England. Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour addressed the media, giving clear instructions to the Asian giants’ finest batters.

Rathour defended Iyer and Gill despite their poor batting performances, arguing that critics should be patient with underperforming batters. There are young batters in our team who have not played much Test cricket. So, we need to be a bit patient with them. Batters like Gill, Jaiswal, and Iyer will eventually start getting big runs, I’m sure of it, the 54-year-old coach told reporters.

There’s a difference between playing with intent and playing attacking cricket. I want them to play with intent. If there is the opportunity to score some runs, they should take it. They need to decide by looking at the surface and conditions. So, the batters need to possess that intelligence as to which is the best or safest shot on the surface, Rathour expressed. Batters need to decide and come up with their plans. And, they need to score runs by playing their shots, as you need to back your strengths, he concluded.