Sitanshu Kotak (background) insisted that most of the batting order after No.3 is malleable ©AFP
“Making it a habit!”
Fielding coach T Dilip’s praise for Shubman Gill rang out at the ICC Academy in Dubai. India’s vice-captain had just flung himself full length to his left, plucking a low, one-handed catch out of thin air.
Two days before their Asia Cup clash with Pakistan, India’s training session was all about fielding. Players dived across narrow spaces between cones, flinging themselves around like goalkeepers to cut off balls and scoop up catches inches from the turf.
Gill and Rinku Singh were paired together for that practice routine, followed by Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma. Earlier, Hardik Pandya had set the tone, starting off a drill that has quickly become a staple of India’s practice on this UAE tour. On one of the first days, Abhishek Sharma looked wide-eyed at the ground he was asked to cover between the two cones. Now, like the others, he was throwing himself into it.
The evening had begun on a lighter note, with all 15 members of the squad involved in a routine that looked like team bonding as much as a fielding drill. Dilip stood at one end, hurling balls while the players, divided into groups, took turns charging in, catching the ball and aiming at shrinking targets: a stump, then half a stump and finally a roller placed upright. Pandya hit. Shivam Dube hit. Even Harshit Rana hit. It was 20 minutes of oohs, aahs, high-fives and inside jokes.
Then the group split. Jasprit Bumrah, bowling in tandem Dube and Pandya, operated in the nets for close to an hour in the searing 38-degree heat, extracting awkward bounce even on a flat surface to test Gill and Abhishek. Arshdeep Singh and Rana got the ball only after they were done with another fielding session, which involved catches on the boundary.
The fielding drills were about adapting to curveballs and about instincts, a theme that carried into the press conference as batting coach Sitanshu Kotak laid out India’s plans for a fluid batting order.
“Sanju has not batted a lot at No. 5 or 6,” Kotak said of Sanju Samson. “But that doesn’t mean he can’t. He is good enough to bat at any number. Depending on the team’s needs, the captain and head coach will decide. He is more than happy to bat anywhere.”
The message was broader than Samson alone. “Everyone in our line-up is capable of batting anywhere and finishing games,” Kotak said. “We have four to five aggressive players. Nothing is fixed. Everyone knows their role and is ready for any situation.”
While the top three are expected to stay the same, Kotak stressed that the rest of the order will remain malleable. “For openers and No. 3, we think of specific players. But after that, everyone is prepared mentally and skill-wise to bat at any number. That’s a good sign.”
It’s not new ground for India. At last year’s T20 World Cup, Axar Patel was used as a left-handed floater against spin, including in the final. In bilateral series since, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma have swapped places depending on match-ups.
In fact, Tilak, Suryakumar, Samson, Pandya, Dube and Axar Patel have all batted in no set order in the nets too, with Abhishek and Gill the only ones to routinely pair up to face India’s new-ball pacers.
Flexibility, Kotak seemed to suggest, went beyond the playing XI too. Arshdeep, India’s leading T20I wicket-taker and one of the heroes of last year’s T20 World Cup win, not getting a match didn’t mean he was out of the picture.
“Everyone knows that there is no agenda,” Kotak explained. “There is no personal liking, disliking. Whatever is best for the team, the captain and head coach will decide and do that. And I don’t think there is any doubt in anybody’s mind. So, whoever is not playing, they are always trying to help the guys who are playing. And I think that’s the way the team should play.”
In Dubai, the evening carried a clear theme. Dilip’s call to make catching a “habit” echoed Kotak’s vision of roles without rigid boundaries. When India line up against Pakistan, they will hope both feel like second nature.
© Cricbuzz
