13 August,2018 07:30 AM IST | Mumbai | Subodh Mayure
Dean Jones
Former Australia top-order batsman Dean Jones has advised India skipper Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri to go back to the drawing board and rework their game plan to counter swing in the ongoing Test series in England.
After losing the first Test in Birmingham by 31 runs and suffering a humiliating innings defeat in the second at Lord's, India head to Trent Bridge for the third Test, beginning August 18. "As a coach, it's difficult to bring back confidence. Ravi [Shastri] has got a big job and Virat [Kohli] too, to bring the guys back. The only way to do it is through hard work.
"Just go in there and have net practice after net practice, try and get yourself a thousand balls, get used to it again, regroup, come back, work on your defence and make sure what your game plan is when it's swinging like this," Jones, who played 52 Tests and 164 ODIs, averaging around 45 in both formats, said on the sidelines of the Star Sports Asia Cup campaign launch yesterday.
Though most critics seem to have written off Team India in the remainder of this Test series, Jones felt Kohli & Co will bounce back. "It [innings defeat] can happen, given the conditions there [at Lord's]. There are sometimes when you can over-analyse your technique - mole hills become mountains... you think too much about it. That's just the way it went. They [Team India] have to regroup and come back. Stats proved that the ball moved more in this [Lord's] Test than any other Test in the last three years anywhere in the world.
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And then you have the two, three best guys [pacers] around, particularly James Anderson. "Unfortunately, India walked into a storm and just couldn't get out of it. But hopefully, there will be better weather in the next couple of Test. I am expecting the Indian team to bounce back. One bad game... don't go over the top with that," added Jones.
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