Former India opener Shiv Sunder Das has been appointed the batting coach of the Indian women's team for the tour of England.
Das, who played 23 Tests between 2000 and ’02, scored 1326 runs, including two hundreds and nine half-centuries. He finished with an average of 34.89.
“It will be a good experience and I am looking forward to it,” said the 43-year-old former Odisha skipper.
Das, who has honed his skills as a batting coach at the National Cricket Academy under Rahul Dravid's guidance, believes that the stint will help him while trying to solve the technical problems of the batters.
“I have been part of the NCA for the last 4-5 years and have been batting coach for the past couple of years. I would like to thank Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly for giving me this opportunity,” said Das, who played most of his cricket under the BCCI president's captaincy.
“I don’t think there is a lot of difference and at the end of the day, you impart your knowledge and work with the players. You contribute to their success and be ready to solve their cricketing issues when they need you. My responsibility is to make them well prepared and match-ready,” said Das, who was part of the Indian team that toured England under Ganguly in 2002 and scored 250 in a tour game.
“That was my highest score in England on that tour,” he recalled.
Das believes that his experience of having played league cricket in England will prove to be helpful when he guides the players.
“It will help that I have played a lot of cricket in England, including international cricket and league cricket. I know the conditions and I will share my experiences with the players.
“A few of them have toured England multiple times and have quite a bit of experience. Whatever time we have, we will see how many training sessions we get, and make sure we use them properly,” he said.
The women’s team will be playing a Test match after a long time, but the new batting coach is confident that with senior pros like Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami in the side, adapting to the conditions won’t be very difficult.
“The girls will be excited as they are getting an opportunity to play a Test match after a long time. It’s a good initiative that they are playing the longer format.
“Jhulan and Mithali have played a lot of international cricket and they will easily adjust to it. It is a good time for the young players as it gives them the opportunity to learn the art of building an innings or bowling a lot of overs. It will help in their overall growth as a cricketer,” said Das.
