IND vs NZ LIVE – WTC Final LIVE: India & captain Virat Kohli will be targetting score above 250 on Day 3 of rain and bad light impacted World Test Championship finals vs New Zealand. According to the Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour anything above 250 should be a good score on this wicket. But New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson feels 250 and beyond is quite achieveable as batsman can score runs with some application & only time will tell if that score holds good.
IND vs NZ LIVE – WTC Final LIVE: India targets score about 250 on Day 3, Kyle Jamieson feels otherwise
Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour said that a first innings score of 250-plus will put India in a fighting position. India are 146 for 3 after a start-stop day 2 which was frequently interrupted by bad light. The first day was wiped out by rain, but the game does have a sixth day as a reserve.
“We’re looking to play sessions well. If we can do that, anything more than 250 will be a reasonable score in these conditions,” Rathour said in the press conference after the day’s play.
“Once the ball got older, it swung more. They hit better areas as a bowling unit as well. But once again, in the last session you saw the runs were coming as well. That’s how the game will go, you will always have something for the bowlers. We’ll have to bat sessions.”
IND vs NZ LIVE – WTC Final LIVE: New Zealand’s most impressive bowler on the Day 2 was asked the same question in the Press Conference that whether 250 will be a good score on the wicket ?
“We certainly haven’t spoken around a number, I think there is an opportunity to score runs as a batting unit and there is still some help with the ball moving around and seaming.
The Indian batsmen have shown if you are patient, there are still runs to be had. So whether 250 is a good score, only time will tell.”
Jamieson said his team was “able to keep the ball in challenging areas for long period.”
“You look at their lineup, you are expecting those guys to do well, they have good records and they have done special things around the world. They have put away slightly bad ball, they were able to score freely,” he said.
“They certainly played well in first hours. We tried to wobble the ball a bit and keep guys engaged. It is part of our arsenal, there were no set plans how we want to operate after that first hour.”
With the New Zealand pacers bowling in tandem, the Indian opening duo of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill tried to come down the track sometimes.
“It was an interesting one, it is not something we probably expected a huge amount,” Jamieson said.
“My take was that, if they were walking then they were not comfortable where I was bowling in the crease, so I tried to take that as a positive. The more they felt that they had to move around to throw us off, we could just hang in there and it sort of can get dividends.
Gill had taken a nasty blow off Jamieson during the second day and the Kiwi pacer said he is just happy that the batsman was okay.
“It is not nice to see someone get hurt and see physios run on, so it was good to see he was okay,” he said.
WTC Final: Anything More Than 250 Will Be a Reasonable Score, Says Batting Coach Vikram Rathour
Rathour gave credit to all the batsmen, especially Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill who added 62 for the opening wicket.
“Virat and Ajinkya batted well. I’d give a lot of credit to Rohit and Gill as well. Tough wicket, overcast conditions. Credit to all the batters, they showed good restraint. We have ended the day very well,” he said.
WTC Finals LIVE – IND vs NZ LIVE: Rathour explained that the strategy by Gill to come down the track was to counter swing, and also look for scoring chances. He said one of the openers will make it big at some stage in the tour.
“Shubman coming down… was to counter the swing as well. The discussion as a batting group was to look for runs when there is an opportunity, it was good to see,” he said.
“They (Shubman and Rohit) can attack and put pressure on the bowling. Unfortunately, both got out together today. But one of the days I’m sure one of them is going to make it big. Both of them can put a lot of pressure on the bowling sides.”
WTC Finals LIVE – IND vs NZ LIVE: Asked whether time batted or runs scored is the ideal parameter to judge an opener in these conditions, Rathour said:
“It’s important to spend some time. But for me, it’s important to score runs. You have to show intent. In these conditions, you need discipline to score runs. Rohit and Gill did that today, showed good intent.
“There’s a lot of communication happening with batsmen even during lockdown/breaks as well. We have one on one conversation on how they’d like to approach the tour. There was good intent today. We had a pretty reasonable day today.”
WTC Finals LIVE – IND vs NZ LIVE: Rathour was asked about Cheteshwar Pujara being hit on the helmet by a Neil Wagner bouncer.
“Not really concerned about Pujara getting hit on the helmet. Pace is not an issue for him, that’s not a problem for him. He batted solid even today, he has a role to play for us. He played 50+ balls, he just needs to convert one of these starts and I’m sure it will come soon.”