WINDIES TOUR OF INDIA, 2018

Important to ensure Rahul's mind is not clouded - Sanjay Bangar

by Gokul Gopal • Last updated on

KL Rahul's struggles against the pacers, and specifically the incoming delivery, continued © AFP

KL Rahul's weakness against incoming deliveries has been a point of discussion in recent times. In the 17 innings that he has played this year, he has managed only two fifty-plus scores and has been dismissed by pacers 16 times. Out of these dismissals, five have been bowled and four leg-before. In his career so far, he has been out bowled/LBW a total of 21 times, 17 of which have come against the pacers, pointing at a technical shortcoming.

Even in 2015, Rahul had a lean patch when he averaged 31.50 in eight innings but he managed to overcome that with solid performance in the following two years. However, 2018 has been a retrograde journey for the 26-year-old, whose average of 22.76 lies in between those of Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, who also average less than 30 this year.

"After giving enough opportunities, if the players don't deliver then in all fairness we need to look at youngsters who are doing well on the domestic cricket circuit and for India 'A'," MSK Prasad, India's chief selector, had told TOI in September, a couple of weeks before India's Test squad to play against the Windies was announced. Vijay and Dhawan were excluded from the Test team while Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal, proven performers in the domestic circuit and for India 'A', were roped in.

Before the second Test got underway, with Rahul having already registered a duck in an otherwise emphatic batting performance from India in Rajkot, bowling coach Bharath Arun had come to the defence of the opener. "Rahul is an outstanding player with tremendous potential, who should be persisted with," he had said.

Sanjay Bangar, the batting coach, echoed those sentiments on a day when India rode on solid performances from Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant to post in excess of 300 in the second Test in Hyderabad, with Rahul yet again having struggled before being dismissed for only four.

"I just felt today's dismissal wasn't really related to the ball coming in because it was probably a fourth stump ball he was looking to leave it. Yes, he has had issues with balls coming in to him, he's working on it really hard," Bangar said. "But at times, batsmen tend to think a lot about away going balls and at times forget to concentrate about straighter balls or those which pitch generally on stump line. Those are things we've been working on.

"If he gets past the 15 or 20 mark - even in the previous game he got out pretty early and even in this game he got to play a few balls but (didn't make it big) - if those dismissals happen after he crosses 20 or 25, then it is a more serious cause of concern. From my point of view, what is more important is that he is concentrating and expecting balls to be pitching on stump line and taking it from there. The second roadblock is he needs to get a start. If he falters, then it's a concern."

Bangar, while acknowledging that Rahul has been going through a struggling phase, had a word of caution for the opener as he advised him not to doubt his game. "The most important thing is that there are various voices and then you start to doubt your own methods. For us, he's been a very consistent player. If you look at his career, what his career has been so far - right from 2014 till now - he has had very, very small patches where has not got the runs that he generally delivers for the team.

"So when such a (lean) patch comes, it's very important for the team and even from my point of view, to make sure that his mind is not clouded quite a lot. That can generally happen a lot at this level - when you start to doubt your own abilities and methods. To convince him that 'yes, your methods have been correct, maybe you can get away from your approach a bit or batting plan a bit'. But I don't think there's too much of a technical fault but maybe once he gets past those initial phases, and he expects the ball to be pitched on stump line that's we have been speaking a lot."

Despite his struggles, Bangar insisted that Rahul is a quality player and the team needs to back him during his lean phase. Pointing out to some of his good performances overseas and during the "hard-fought" series against Australia at home, Bangar was of the opinion that Rahul is an impact player who can win matches for his team.

"You need to look at where the player is (performance wise) and you need to keep an eye on the future. Whatever runs he [Rahul] scored for the Indian team, his contributions have come overseas and his contributions even in India has come in tougher times. You remember the series against Australia which probably was the most hard-fought series.

"In the domestic calendar in the last couple of years he was very consistent. So for a player of that quality, he's got a long career ahead of him. He is somebody who is part of all other formats as well, so I think that from a team management point of view we will back players who are capable of winning matches, who are impact players for us, and who can change the course of a match," Bangar said.

© Cricbuzz

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