ANI |
Updated: 17 Feb 2026 20:54 IST
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India]February 17 (ANI): India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has dismissed suggestions of a weak link in the batting line-up against spinners in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
He also stated that the team executed its plans effectively and did not show any deviation from strategy during their previous Group A match against arch-rivals Pakistan.
During the pre-match press conference ahead of the final group match against the Netherlands, Kotak noted that India’s score of 175 in the India-Pakistan match remains the highest score in the history of the T20 World Cup against arch-rivals.
The Indian batting coach also backed the struggling Tilak Varma, saying he played exactly what the team wanted against Pakistan.
Varma played 25 off 24 balls, with two fours and one six against Pakistan. However, India won the one-sided contest by 61 runs after Pakistan failed to reach the 176-run target. This was India’s eighth win against their arch-rivals in T20 World Cup history.
“No, I don’t think so. Because what we planned… By the way, India’s 175 against Pakistan in the World Cup is the highest score in a T20 World Cup so far. So I think we accomplished what we planned. Every player has a specific role, which shouldn’t be talked about much. But I think Tilak played exactly the way the team wanted,” Kotak said.
The coach emphasized that we cannot expect the batters to hit every ball for boundaries and the team focused on building a partnership against Pakistan.
“Everything including Surya’s delivery and everything you saw was more or less what we decided. And sometimes what happens in matches is that if one or two boundaries are set, people won’t feel that way. Now we can’t expect the border to be reached when we want. So I think he played very well. We’ve been more focused on these partnerships. The wicket, the par score there is about 160. So I thought it was brilliant. did something different,” he added.
Defending champions India will play their final Group A match against the Netherlands on February 18 at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
The Suryakumar Yadav-led team has reached the Super Eight stage after winning three consecutive Group A matches in the ongoing tournament.
India’s T20 World Cup squad:
Ishan Kishan (watchman), Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar. (ANI)