New Delhi [India], October 10 : India's batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak, decoded Sai Sudharsan's dismissal, highlighting the technical flaw, and assured that he is working with the "mentally tough" youngster to help him overcome it.
On the first day of India's second Test against the West Indies at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Sudharsan showed promise and silenced his critics by notching a sturdy 87(165), with his composed strokeplay. His flourishing exploits met their end after he went on the back foot while trying to negotiate vice-captain Jomel Warrican's delivery that turned sharply into him.
Sudharsan got cramped up for space and got trapped in front of the stumps. After the end of the opening day, which was thoroughly dominated by India, Kotak explained how the 23-year-old perished against the spinning delivery despite having a reputation for prospering well against the ball tweakers.
"Sai obviously coming from Tamil Nadu they play a lot on turning wickets so he is pretty good against spin I think his back foot game and some shots he plays on back foot not many players play or lot of bowls which he negotiates on back foot most of the players would negotiate it on front foot the only thing we talk about is some of the very full bowl also sometime he plays on back foot so we are trying to cut out on that, he very much knows that and he tries," Kotak told reporters during the post-day press conference after India posted 318/2.
Before the second Test, Sudharsan, who earned his maiden Test cap in England earlier this year, had mustered 147 runs in seven innings. With a dwindling run, Sudharsan popped up on the radar of critics, who slowly began to question his place in the Test fold. He arrived on the crease after KL Rahul got stumped, leaving India reduced to 58/1.
With Yashasvi Jaiswal at the other end, the southpaw duo raised a 193-run partnership for the second wicket to propel India to a position of control. Kotak revealed that despite Sudharsan's lean patch, he remained undeterred, courtesy of his tough mentality.
"See Sai, we all know how talented he is and every time probably you won't look at the score you would look at the batsman how he is batting how he is placing his innings, what kind of shots he plays sometime one or two innings anybody can fail but he batted brilliantly today I don't think, he is someone who is mentally very tough you will never see him under pressure you will never see he will change his style of playing whatever, he always plays on the merit so the same way he batted today," Kotak added.
After Sudharsan's dismissal, Jaiswal continued to go about his business and revelled in a belligerent approach to add to the West Indies' woes. After celebrating his seventh Test ton, Jaiswal returned unbeaten on 173(253), well poised for walloping his third double ton in the red-ball format. Kotak was mesmerised by the way Jaiswal paced his innings across the three sessions, which comprised a slow start in the first to negate the movement and upping the ante in the second.
"The determination that he showed was important for me. The ball came on the new, better bat. He also bowled the second 50 at a good pace. But I felt that after 60-65 overs, the ball didn't come on the better bat. I think he took enough time; he didn't miss a single shot," Kotak said.
"Same thing he told me in tea time, and so it shows that last match he felt he missed out on a big inning, so the way he approached, I think it was brilliant. For me, the most important thing was the determination he showed to play a big inning. Obviously, he is still playing, but I think that determination and that belief after not being so aggressive also, he is batting on 173 or 175, so it shows how good he batted," he added.