India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak dismissed claims of a weak batting lineup, stating the team executed its plans against Pakistan. He defended Tilak Varma’s knock and highlighted India’s 175 as the highest-ever T20 WC score vs their rivals.
India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak dismissed suggestions of a weak link in the batting line-up against spinners in the ongoing T20 World Cup. He also asserted that the team executed its plans effectively and showed no deviation from strategy during their previous group A match against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Coach dismisses criticism, backs team strategy
During the pre-match press conference ahead of their final group match against the Netherlands, Kotak pointed out that India’s score of 175 in the India-Pakistan clash remained the highest total in the history of the T20 World Cup against arch-rivals. The Indian batting coach also backed struggling Tilak Varma, saying he played exactly what the team wanted against Pakistan. Varma played a scratchy knock of 25 off 24 balls, with two fours and one six against Pakistan. However, India won the one-sided contest by 61 runs after Pakistan failed to chase down the 176-run target. This was India’s eighth victory over arch-rivals in the history of the T20 World Cup.
“No, I don’t think so. Because what we had planned… By the way, India’s 175 against Pakistan in the World Cup is the highest score in the T20 World Cup so far. So I think we executed what we had planned. Every player has a precise role that should not be discussed much. But I think Tilak played exactly the way the team wanted,” Kotak said.
The coach stressed we can’t expect batters to hit every ball for a boundary, and the team was focused on building a partnership against Pakistan. “Everything, including Surya’s innings and whatever you saw, was more or less what we have decided. And sometimes it happens in matches that if one or two boundaries are set, then people won’t feel that way. Now, we can’t expect the boundary to be hitwhenever we want. So I think he played really well. We were more focused on those partnerships. The wicket, the par score there is around 160. So I think it was brilliant. It wasn’t anything we thought he could have done something different,” he added.
India to face Netherlands in final group match
The defending champions, India, will play their final Group A match against the Netherlands on February 18 at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The Suryakumar Yadav-led side has qualified for the Super Eight stage after winning three consecutive Group A matches in the ongoing tournament.
India squad for T20 World Cup
India squad for T20 World Cup: Ishan Kishan(wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(captain), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar. (ANI)
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