England vs India: Vikram Rathour advises Rohit Sharma to be selective with his shots

London, Aug 15: As India opener, Rohit Sharma threw his wicket away at a critical juncture in the second innings of the ongoing second Test match against England at Lord's, the team's batting coach Vikram Rathour suggested the Mumbaikar must be a 'little more selective' with his shots.

Rohit was dismissed in India's second essay on Sunday (August 15), while attempting a rash pull shot off England pacer Mark Wood. Rohit had already scored a six with a pull shot against the pacer in that over but his penchant to pull every short-pitched delivery proved fatal as he found a fielder in the deep this time. Rohit fell to a pull shot for the second time in the Test series against England.

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"There will be analysis, of course, every time they get out, we will be having a talk, what happened and what they were thinking while batting or while they played that shot," Rathour said at the virtual post-day press conference after the fourth day's play.

India in their second innings were at 181/6 when stumps were drawn on day four, leading by 154 runs. "As far Rohit is concerned, I think he has made it clear that that is the shot which fetches him runs, that is the shot where he gets runs with, so he is going to play those shots and we are backing him to play those shots, the only thing he needs to do is to be a little more selective, with what to play and when to play..."

According to Rathour, skipper Virat Kohli, who was dismissed on 20, was undone by a lapse in concentration. "Kohli, I don't think there was an issue, it was just a lapse in concentration today, where his bat went to the ball, which he shouldn't have played and nothing more, I don't think anything old (is) coming back," the batting coach said.

Rathour said that the team needs to set a target close to the 200-run mark. "You are right, this will be a typical fifth-day wicket of a Test match, where the ball will go up and down and is also turning as we saw. So, again as I said earlier, if we can take the target near 200 runs, then it won't be easy for England," he said.

"Like (Ravindra) Jadeja bowled in the first innings, he was accurate, if he gets a turn from there, he can create problems for the batsmen, and our pace attack is bowling well. "If the ball stays up and down, like we are seeing when the ball is hard, then, if we can add 30-40 runs more and take 1-2 early England wickets, then there will be pressure on them," he added.

(With PTI inputs)