Failed to defend targets because of dew: Batting coach Vikram Rathour on India’s Asia Cup performance

Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour has shed light on the team’s performance in the Asia Cup. Team India, who was one of the favorites for the multi-team tournament, failed to even qualify for the final. The Rohit Sharma-led team suffered losses against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super Four stage before they won convincingly against Afghanistan.

India could not defend 181 runs against Pakistan and then also lost against Sri Lanka while defending 173 runs. The Indian death bowling came under the scanner as the fast bowlers could not keep the opposition batters at bay. Rathour feels the team failed to defend the targets because of the dew in the second innings.

“We are working on that area of getting better at defending targets. But to be fair to our bowlers, the toss plays a vital role and every time we have not been able to defend are the places where there has been dew, so it gets easier to chase,” Rathour said on the eve of the first T20I against South Africa.

India lost both matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka on the penultimate ball of the innings and Rathour added that the bowlers did a decent job for the team to take the match deep.

“I won’t be harsh on bowlers as they have been able to push the match till the last over, every time when we are looking to defend. It’s one ball here and there but, of course, we are doing pretty well, but hopefully, we will get better,” said Rathour.

Meanwhile, Rathour feels that batting first in the 2021 T20 World Cup was an issue for them but they have been putting decent totals on the board in the recent past while batting first.

“I think batting first was one of the concerns during the last T20 World Cup, but since then, we have been putting up par or par plus scores every time that we have batted first. So I don’t think that’s an issue,” Rathour added.

India will take on South Africa in the first T20I on Wednesday.