India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said on Tuesday that middle-order batters KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan are locked in a selection battle for the second Test against New Zealand in Pune even though head coach Gautam Gambhir is keen to give the former, a long rope.
With India looking to bounce back from the eight-wicket thrashing at Bengaluru in the opening Test, focus will be on the team combination with Washington Sundar being added to the squad. Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant are both aiming to shake off injury concerns for the match starting Thursday.
"Yeah, there's no point in sugarcoating it, there's a fight for a spot," ten Doeschate told the media when asked if Rahul and Sarfaraz were battling for a place in the team, here at the MCA Stadium ahead of India's training session.
"Sarfaraz was obviously brilliant in the last Test. I went to KL after the last Test (and) said how many balls do you play at (and) miss at? He didn't play at (and) miss at one ball and that's what tends to happen when you're not getting runs.
"There's certainly no concerns about KL, he's batting nicely, he's in a good mental space. But we are certainly going to have to fit seven pieces into six spots for this Test and look at the pitch now and decide what's going to be best for the team," he said.
Sarfaraz scored a second-innings 150 in the Bengaluru game, while Rahul remained off-colour in both essays.
While admitting that it is difficult to keep Rahul out of the equation in the Test format, ten Doeschate said head coach Gautam Gambhir is "keen to" give him a long rope.
"It's not like we're worried about his form. If you go on just the past three months since Gauti has been in here, he's keen to give him (Rahul) as much rope as we can. We have a lot of faith in him," he said.
"But at the same time, it's a very competitive environment, with Sarfaraz getting 150 plus runs (222 not out) in the Irani Trophy final. The decision will be what's best for the team, but we'll certainly back all the guys in," he added.
Pant, who did not keep wickets for a significant part of the opening Test, and Shubman Gill, who missed the match due to stiffness in his neck, are close to attaining their full fitness.
"Rishabh is pretty good. I think Rohit (Sharmna) touched on it the other day. He was having a little bit of discomfort at the end range of his movement with the knee. But fingers crossed, he'll be good to keep in the Test as well," he said.
"He (Gill) looks so (available for this Test). He has batted last week in Bangalore, he had a few nets, he's got a little bit of discomfort, but I think he'll be good to go for the Test," he added.
Ten Doeschate said the addition of Washington Sundar is "no desperate measure" but to add a bowling option who would take the ball away from the Kiwis left-handers.
“Definitely not. They (New Zealand) are filled with four left-handers in the XI. We've had Washy around the white-ball squad for a while and we like the way he operates. It's also nice to see that guys are getting rewarded for Ranji Trophy performance as well.”
“We just want to make sure we're absolutely prepared for conditions here and if that does mean taking the ball away from the left-hander, we want that option,” he added.
Ten Doeschate said Mohammed Siraj could be going through a “wicket-drought” but there was nothing to suggest that he was struggling for rhythm.
“Siraj bowled beautifully in the second innings. That hour of Test match cricket on the last morning was really high quality,” he said.
“It maybe wasn't a nicking wicket, which is obviously his big strength, particularly to left-handers when he moves the ball across. There's nothing there to say like he's not bowling well or his rhythm is not good.
“Maybe he's just going through a little bit of a wicket drought. But no concerns again,” he said.
India will have to play according to the conditions and not against fast bowling in particular, the coach said.
“I don't think specifically to fast bowlers and when the ball is new, but playing a bit more to conditions is something we want to work on,” he said.
“Obviously, that first innings was ridiculously tough with the ball seaming around. There will be other times when fast bowling is the right option to go after it," he added.
