[1]With a top individual score of 45 in two innings combined together on a track where run-making was not impossible, batting remains the biggest worry for Karnataka after the stunning loss to Odisha here on Tuesday.
KSCA president Anil Kumble gave the team a pep-talk after the match, highlighting the pride of the Karnataka teams in the past, and nobody will be hurt more than the batsmen in the ranks.
Dissecting the repeated failures of the famed bunch, which has scored runs against the best of sides even in the most demanding of conditions in the past, team’s batting coach J. Arun Kumar didn’t mince any words.
“The batsmen didn’t have great scores in the first few matches and so they probably wanted their individual scores to go up. So they wanted to stay at the wicket for a longer time. Somewhere deep down, the interest of the team was lost,” stated the former opener candidly. “When you look at it, certain guys should play certain roles. Attacking batsmen like Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa should be playing their roles and guys like Ganesh (Satish) should know his. They knew it but the execution wasn’t perfect,” bemoaned Arun.
Lashing out at the collective failure, Arun said: “Out of seven batsmen, at least three need to score big. When we need 100s, we get 50s and when we need 50s – in this game – 2-to-3 50s would have mattered a lot — we got 20s.”
Arun also dwelt on the need for the batsmen to be positive. “The guys slipped into defensive mode. Few shots like what (C.M.) Gautam played would have helped a lot. Once they spread the field, there are more chances to get the singles which is difficult with nine guys around you. They didn’t put in practice what we had talked about,” said Arun, his dejection very evident.
With a week’s rest ahead of the next tie against Delhi on Dec.8, the batsmen need to iron out the flaws if Karnataka aim to turn around their fortunes this season.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/robin1jpgcropdisplayjpg-884