Trying to give Pant as long as possible to recover ahead of Manchester Test, says ten Doeschate

Beckenham, July 17 (IANS) Ahead of a do-or-die fourth Test against England in Manchester, India are sweating over the availability of vice-captain Rishabh Pant, who suffered a left index finger injury while keeping in Lord’s Test.

Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said the team is giving Pant as much time as possible to recover and be fit to take the field when the Manchester Test starts on July 23. Pant, who made 74 and nine at Lord’s was in visible pain after being hit on left index finger and did not keep wickets for the rest of the Test.

After India suffered a 22-run defeat to go 1-2 down in the five-match series, captain Shubman Gill had said Pant will be fit to play in Manchester. “He will bat in Manchester before the Test. I don't think one is going to keep Rishabh out of the Test, no matter what. He batted with quite a lot of pain in the third Test and it's only going to get easier and easier on his finger.”

“Keeping is obviously the last part of the process to make sure that he can keep. We don't want to go through that again where we have to replace the keeper halfway through in the innings. But he rested today. We're just trying to give his finger as long as possible and hopefully he's good to go in Manchester in the first training session,” said ten Doeschate in a press conference, on the sidelines of India’s practice session at Beckenham.

In Pant’s absence, wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel took up the keeping duties at Lord’s. Ten Doeschate did say Jurel was in the mix for Manchester if Pant isn’t fully fit. “He is in the equation. But I mean, obviously, if Rishabh is fit, he plays the next Test and does both,” he added.

With India now 1-2 behind in the five-match series, ten Doeschate said the side is aiming to improve on the pattern of losing wickets in a heap, something which has hurt them in their losses at Headingley and Lord’s. “I think the focus is to not try to change too much. That might be counterintuitive when you're 2-1 down in the series. But we feel like the guys have been excellent for large, large parts of the series.”

“The repetition of losing lots of wickets in a very short space of time has obviously been the key feature of the two losses. Probably both times in Headingley and obviously overnight and first thing in the morning at Lord's. We feel cost us the game, losing six wickets for 40 again.”

“But if you look at it individually, if you look at the run tally of all the batters they're all batting nicely. Even someone like Karun, we feel his rhythm is good, his tempo is good. We want more runs from the three. But the message is mainly, let's really focus on what we've done well and tidy up the little things that have cost us results, essentially,” he elaborated.

Another pattern which has emerged is India losing at least one wicket 30 minutes before lunch break was taken, a topic which ten Doeschate said has been talked about in the dressing room. “It has been spoken about. You've got to weigh up, is it more coincidence or is there a pattern of something we're doing wrong? Are we losing concentration? Are we getting too excited to get in there? Are we getting complacent in the positions we are? And that's very difficult to draw out a player.”

“So it is something we're mentioning. There's been a few times where you almost feel like it can't happen again. I was throwing balls at the back at Lord’s when Rishabh got run out and it was incredulity. You couldn't believe that it happened again.”

“But that's also no guarantee that they're going to put on another 70, 80, 100 runs. Every ball is important. I think the messaging to the players throughout has been like, let's try to win every single event, which is every ball, not look too far forward and not look too far behind us either.”

India are playing a Test match in Manchester after 11 years, which brings an element of newness for a majority of team members. “I'm not sure Manchester is the same as Manchester of 10-15 years ago. But look, we don't look for excuses and conditions. We're playing on the same wickets as the other team and I think we've made it a point within the group to stay away from any excuses and the guys have been really good at that.”

“So the challenge is to get the best out of the players, to look at the conditions we expect, try to fit the pieces of who we can play in that and just ask the guys to go out there and do their best, like I feel they've done for large parts of the series so far,” added ten Doeschate.

He signed off by explaining how the support staff is managing players who have spent a lot of time on the sidelines. “Five test tour is a long tour. Particularly we're carrying 18, which is a bit larger. So I guess it's giving as much attention and much care to the guys who aren't playing as they aren't playing, and making sure they get quality practice between Tests.”

“Talking to them about why we are going with the combinations we're not going with and hoping that they're in the right frame of mind and obviously physically and technically ready to play Test cricket when their chance comes.”

“Unfortunately, when you have 18 quality players, you're going to get guys coming on tour and not playing a Test. But certainly managing that space and managing the team environment is very important to keeping everyone ready to play, but also to keeping the mood in the dressing room good.”

--IANS

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