Dilip Vengsarkar: Bat has to be 1st line of defence on such wickets

Apart from dominating England in their own backyard with three centuries at Lords alone former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar was a master batsman against spin bowling at home as well His career highest of 166 against Sri Lanka on a Cuttack wicket that aided vicious turn and saw puffs of dust getting kicked up is one that best illustrated his abilityWith a lot of talk on batsmen facing difficulties on the spinfriendly pitches that were laid out in Chennai and Ahmedabad for the second and third Tests respectively between India and England Vengsarkar who played 115 Test matches spoke on how to approach spinners in such conditionsExcerptsIndia won the last two Tests on a difficult wicket What are the things you need to take care while batting on these surfacesThe advantage for us India was that we are used to playing local cricket and domestic cricket against quality spinners So that helped us quite a lot Basically when you see that the ball is seaming or turning you have to work hard for runs When the ball is spinning one should play very late and ensure not to jab at the ball Also you need to ensure that bat is your first line of defenceHow do you approach and read the ballYou allow the ball to turn or bounce or whatever it is doing It also comes out of habit Suppose if you cant work out the ball from the bowlers hand you can then work out from the air and the spinning of the seam These things you develop only after playing and getting into a habit We play quality spinners at domestic level That helps us a lotBatting against Ravichandran Ashwin what would you keep in mindThe first and foremost thing is that you have to see what sort of a wicket you are batting on and then accordingly you adapt to conditions Ashwin is a topclass spinner So when you are playing a topclass spinner you know he will be up to something He has got some more extra variety up his sleeve so you have to anticipate what he is going to bowl next That is very important It all depends on the wicket and the situation of the match whether you want to grind whether you want to play late whether you want to attack There is no fixed way You cant say I will bat this way or that way you have to improvise then and thereHow did you find the batting of Rohit Sharma in the last two TestsHe is one of the best batsmen in the world There is no question about it The way he plays fast bowling on any surface whether it is seaming or bouncing Or even against spinners in the last two Tests It is a treat to watch him batWhat do you attribute his batting skills toHe has a great defensive technique If you have to score runs on any kind of wicket you need a good defensive technique and he has that Id say he has everything How he changes gears how he approaches the game his attacking technique The way he played against spinners is a treat to watch just like it is watching him against fast bowlingYou had a love for Lords You are the only visiting batsman to make three Test centuries at the venue What made it possibleThose days while touring England we used to play a lot of side games against County teams ie matches outside of Test cricket That helped us to adapt to conditions especially in England Once you adapt to conditions you can spend more time in the middle and get runs in the middle So that gives you confidence It gave me confidenceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever