IND vs ENG | As long as we are winning T20Is, I am not concerned about strike rates, says Vikram Rathour
India's T20 plans are very archaic
|BCCI
India's batting coach Vikram Rathour has stated that the team has a success formula of its own and they are not really concerned about the strike rates of the batsmen. Rathour has further added that Rohit Sharma has a set template of his own and there is no need to tweak anything with that.
Even though India is the home to the biggest and most successful T20 league in the world, the national team's approach to the shortest version of the game has remained archaic, very similar to their plans in largely-successful ODI format. The top order of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli bat with a very identical approach while KL Rahul, a natural striker of the ball, has moulded himself to a more traditional format.
While India are still winning T20Is on a consistent basis, many experts have called it a thin rope that might break anytime soon. But Rathour found no glitch in that. He stated that the strike rate is not a concern for him as long as the team is winning games.
"You are looking to win a game. If you are chasing, strike rate doesn't mean anything actually. You are looking to finish a game and chase a target - whether you do it in 10 overs or 20 overs, you are looking to win the game. Batting first, at times, yeah. If the conditions are good you need to be looking to put a par score on board. As far as our T20 (batting) is concerned we have been doing that pretty consistently. So I'm not really, really concerned; I mean as far as we are winning games and we are putting par scores and chasing targets, I'm okay with whatever strike rates they are going at," Rathour told ESPN Cricinfo.
Unlike other successful T20 teams, India have approached the powerplay phases of a T20I match as an extension of an ODI. With slow-starters like Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan in the squad, India very rarely have gone for an attack-from-the-word-go mindset. However, Rathour stated that for Rohit, his game plan has always worked.
"Somebody like Rohit has a very set game-plan and he has been extremely successful following that game-plan. So I would not really want him to change that. He is somebody who takes his time initially, gets set first, and then goes scores big. That has worked well for us. That has worked well for him. So I absolutely find no reason to change that at this point," the batting coach added.
