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Countering English conditions: Ajinkya Rahane offers batting tips to Indian Women side

India men’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane offered some insights about batting in England conditions against Duke balls to India Women cricketers when the two sides were under quarantine in Mumbai, as per a PTI report.

The report further suggested that the newly-inducted coach of the Women side, Ramesh Powar, who has been a good mate to Rahane over the years, arranged a zoom session with the vice-captain, where he discussed the keys to succession England conditions.

"Ramesh and Ajinkya have been teammates. Since our girls are playing Test match after seven years, the coach thought that it would be a good idea to have a session where one of the best in the business will talk about Test match batting. It was a 50-minute zoom session that was arranged when both teams were in quarantine in Mumbai,” a PTI report quoted an unnamed BCCI official aware of the development as saying.

The zoom session lasted for 50 minutes and Rahane suggested women to focus on short goals such as the first 15 runs and following it up with another 25 or 30 runs to prosper, instead of keeping the larger goal in mind while batting.

"He told the batters that it should be like first 15 runs and then another 25 and another 30 runs. He also spoke that in England, there would be inevitable rain-breaks,” the source said further.

Rahane also talked about the importance of switching on and off in between partnership to keep their minds fresh, for which he suggested taking a cup of coffee or tea or a having conversation.

"Ajinkya's answer was the ability to switch on and switch off when a partnership is on. Have a chat, drink a cup of coffee, get a massage. So you need to switch off for some time only to switch on at the time when you get in,” the source concluded.

India Women will take on the hosts England Women in the only Test of the series between them starting June 16 in Bristol while Rahane will form a crucial part of the Indian men's batting lineup in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton starting June 18.

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