Prior to India’s crucial T20 World Cup Super Eights encounter against Zimbabwe, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak acknowledged the pressure on his team but remained confident in their capacity to handle the scenario.
After a crushing 76-run loss to South Africa in Ahmedabad, India must win the final two Super Eight games against Zimbabwe in Chennai on Thursday and the West Indies in Kolkata on March 1.
“See obviously, World Cup in India, there will be pressure and a lot of expectations. I am a big believer that any international game you play, you will feel pressure. And this is a big pressure game, obviously, when you are representing a country,” Kotak said in the pre-match press conference in Chennai on Wednesday.
However, Kotak has no doubts about the mental toughness of Indian players.
“I honestly believe just because we lost one game and we did not have a good partnership and all, people talk more about it (pressure). But I honestly think they all are good enough to handle that pressure. If we want to win the World Cup, we have to handle that pressure. So, it’s just, I’m personally looking for that momentum. Once we start getting that momentum again, if we do it from tomorrow, I think they will be picking up at the right time,” he added.
For Kotak, having the openers fire in unison is one step in the process of getting back on track. Abhishek Sharma has not performed well thus far in the ICC tournament, while Ishan Kishan has been scoring freely.
“See in all the bilateral (series vs New Zealand and SA) our batting was really clicking. I think in this World Cup, the last game was a little concerning because in like a year-and-a-half, roughly, a couple of times only we got less than 150.
“I think we should take it in our stride that it was the worst game we played in two years, so we should just honestly I feel we should just don’t think about it too much and move ahead.
“Our openers have not clicked as well as we want. Ishan played brilliantly against Pakistan, but Abhishek had a little rough patch, two or three games. It is fine, and once they start firing it will be a different environment,” he explained.
However, Kotak stated that going forward in the tournament, India will continue to bat aggressively.
“Definitely, we will play the same brand of cricket. I think we have to be very positive and play the same brand of cricket which has given us the success and clearly that is the way we will play, there will not be any difference.
“Yes, if the wicket is different and you have to adjust to the wicket like in Colombo we did, that is fine, that is part of the game,” he noted.
