India News – Vikram Rathour on Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rinku Singh and a time of revolution

“It will not be easy to replace people of the caliber of Rohit and Virat,” Rathour told PTI. “What has just been concluded [T20I] the series against Zimbabwe has given us a glimpse of what the T20 team will look like in the future. But we still have a few years in Test and ODI cricket to get to that point.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it [the transition],” Rathour said. “We have a lot of depth in Indian cricket. There are many talented and very talented players coming through the program. The only thing we need to ensure is that the transition is done in a controlled manner. It needs to happen gradually.”

Rathour feels that with more young players coming in, India have the men they need to form the core of the team, in all forms, for the next decade.

“I hope that by then, players like Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, to name a few, will settle down and make the transition smooth,” he said. “In ODIs too, we have experienced players like Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya who will take over.

“There are many exciting players coming but these two [Gill and Jaiswal] they are equipped to play all three formats for a long time. They will be the backbone of Indian batting for years to come.”

Rathour: Rinku Singh ‘can develop into a Test cricketer’

“When I see him hitting the nets, I don’t find any technical reasons why Rinku won’t be successful in Tests,” said Rathour. “I understand that he has made a name for himself as a successful player in T20 cricket but if you look at his first class record, he is estimated to be in the high 50s.

“He has also been blessed with a calm demeanor. So all these things point to the fact that if he is given the chance he can develop into a Test cricketer.”

Dravid ‘giving more room to work’

Rathour formed a strong partnership with Dravid in India’s back room. Their relationship, in fact, goes back to the mid-1990s, when they played international matches at the same time – and so did Paras Mhambrey, Dravid’s bowling coach.

“Rahul is the best coach I have ever worked with, who gives you a lot of room to work, is open to suggestions and will give you honest feedback,” said Rathour. “One of the first discussions we had was about changing the batting style in T20 cricket. We agreed that we need to show intent and aggression in our batting style.”

Rathour said the key point belonged to Axar Patel, who solved his problem of decent batting in the 8th over. “That made a big difference and gave the top hitters more freedom to hit.”