IND vs BAN: Nayar backs Rahul, expects Sarfaraz to understand situation

India’s batting coach Abhishek Nayar has backed KL Rahul to come good despite the batter’s average returns in the first Test since his comeback after the Hyderabad Test against England in January last year. 

Rahul, who scored 6 and 22* in the first Test in Chennai against Bangladesh, will most likely play in the second game of the series as well, starting September 27 at Kanpur. 

"Sometimes it is just direction, and I feel, having spent a little time with KL in the last few days, he is someone who understands his game very well. I feel, that in South Africa, he played tremendous knocks for India when he was there. 

So we are very hopeful with the kind of conversation that Gauti [Gautam Gambhir] bhai and I have had with him, that hopefully we can have a turnaround in KL as well. These things sometimes take time,” Nayar said in the pre-match press conference on September 26 (Thursday) 

"I know we did not end up giving him much of a shot in the second innings, but the way he was batting is the kind of cricket we are expecting and hoping from him. And I am pretty sure going forward you will see the expectations turning into the performances from him,” added the former Mumbai batter. 

Rahul, who took Sarfaraz Khan’s place at number six in the Indian lineup, has the worst average (34.42) for any batter to have played 50 Tests for India. Despite that he was favoured over Sarfaraz and Nayar had a logic behind that. 

"The communication is very clear, what are your expectations from the players and what do you want them to work on? A player understands that there will be times when he will have to sit out for someone else. Such times will come in every player's career - whether it was Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli [they had to go through that],” he said concerning Sarfaraz who had an average outing in the recently concluded Duleep Trophy 2024. 

However, Nayar stressed the fact that in such situations where players have to make way for other players, the coaching staff’s role increases in conveying it to both players. 

"There will be times when he will have to make way for a senior player. But in those times, it is very important that we as a support staff have a growth mindset and try to develop the players,” he said.

If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here.