South Africa vs India 2018: Mohinder Amarnath wants Indian batsmen to focus on footwork and technique

What's the story?

Former India batsman Mohinder Amarnath has called for the Indian batsmen to ensure they have proper footwork and technique while facing high-quality bowling, especially overseas, where the conditions are so different from that at home.

“There is no substitute to technique. You have to be sure of your basics and build on them with confidence,” said the 67-year-old about the key to batting well.

In case you didn't know..

Middle-order batsman Amarnath scored 11 Test centuries, 9 of which came away from home. Eight of those 11 hundreds came from batting at number three, a position where batsmen have to negotiate a relatively new and hard ball.

The World Cup-winner in 1983 was discussing the major requirements of batting after India's batsmen failed to adapt to the swinging and seaming track at Cape Town in the first Test of the ongoing South Africa tour, and then could not score big runs on a surprisingly slow Centurion pitch in the next game.

The heart of the matter

Amarnath also spoke about the importance of footwork in accumulating runs. “If you watch closely, our batsmen are more chest-on. Batting is best with a side-on position. Because they are chest-on they are edging the ball to slips and to the wicketkeeper. The response to the ball has to be quick and early. Our batsmen are mostly waiting and that allows the bowlers to dominate.”

He also put forward the example of captain Virat Kohli, who, according to him, has 'supreme footwork'. “Virat is at ease because he takes [an] early position to negotiate the ball. You will have to seize the initiative by playing your shots and constantly rotating the strike. Watching Virat’s footwork would be a very good idea for the rest of the batsmen.”

What's next?

South Africa and India play the third and final Test of the series at Johannesburg, where the pitch has a lot of grass and is designed to aid the home pacers. The hosts are already 2-0 up in the series with India played for pride to avoid a whitewash.

Author's Take

An expert at run scoring who faced the dangerous quartet of the West Indies, Amarnath could have scarcely put it better for India to start putting up runs on the board and put the opposition under pressure.