"It’s about giving them their space and trust their comeback": Nayar

Though India skipper Rohit Sharma and star batsman Virat Kohlirsquos struggles with the bat continue resulting in the hosts losing the threematch series to New Zealand before reaching Mumbai for the final Test assistant coach Abhishek Nayar is not worried about the toporder batsmenrsquos formCorrect approachldquoTheir approach is great I feel theyrsquore putting in the hard yards Sometimes yoursquove got to be a little patient even with the greatest of players and they can have tough times Irsquom pretty sure sooner rather than later wersquoll have more to praise Virat and Rohit and everyone else as well about We need to have just a bit of patiencerdquo Nayar told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the the teamrsquos practice session for the third Test starting at the Wankhede Stadium on FridayIndia skipper Rohit Sharma during a practice session at the Wankhede Stadium yesterdayKohli made zero and 70 in the first Test at Bangalore which India lost by eight wickets Then in the Pune Test which the Kiwis won by 113 runs inside three days Kohli managed just one and 17 Skipper Rohitrsquos figures in the last four innings versus NZ have been two 52 zero and eight Nayar though felt they need strong support during these tough times ldquoWhen a top player goes through a lull a lot of the times itrsquos about giving them their space and trust that they will come backrdquo Nayar saidAlso ReadTheyrsquore certainly an opposition that are very very skilled Ajaz Patel ahead of the Mumbai TestNew Zealand leftarm spinner Mitchell Santner claimed 13 wickets 753 and 6104 in the Pune Test and critics felt he exposed the inability of the Indian batters to counter spin on a rank turner However Nayar a former Mumbai and India allrounder disagreed ldquoThatrsquos a bit of a harsh statement When yoursquore trying to achieve something therersquos always going to be a time when you take a certain dip because yoursquore trying to play cricket in a different way and yoursquore trying to push yourself out of the comfort zone Sometimes the results donrsquot go your way but if yoursquore patient enough and when that upward curve hits the team and the individual then your purple patch lasts for really longrdquo added NayarThree city players in teamWhile Rohit will be playing only his second Test at his home ground for opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and middleorder batsman Sarfaraz Khan it will be their maiden outing here in the longest formatWhen midday sought Nayarrsquos advice for the Mumbai players he remarked ldquoHome conditions are always like two sides of a coin Sometimes it gives you an advantage Sarfaraz has got a lot of runs here so has YashasviAbhishek NayarSo it is always great to have that But that is domestic cricket and now we are playing against a New Zealand side who are confident and positive So for us itrsquos more about selfreflection and what we can do as a team There are always advantages but what you have done in the past does not really matter in the present So itrsquos all about how you turn up on that particular dayrdquoThe last time three city players mdash Sachin Tendulkar who was leading the team then Ajit Agarkar and Wasim Jaffer mdash played at the Wankhede in February 2000 India lost the Test by four wickets to South Africa It will be interesting to see if Rohit Jaiswal and Sarfaraz can turn things in Indiarsquos favour this timelsquoWe donrsquot try to get conditions we wantrsquoIt is generally believed that the host team enjoys home advantage and prepare the pitch as per their strengths However Indiarsquos assistant coach Abhishek Nayar has refuted this claim ldquoI wish we could curate pitches but we donrsquot The curators do and whatever we are provided with mdash whether itrsquos a pitch that seams or turns mdash we go and play As cricketers and as a team we play with whatever we are provided We donrsquot try to get conditions according to what we wantrdquo Nayar said at the prematch press conference on Wednesday at Wankhede where Rohit Sharma amp Co who have already lost the threematch series to New Zealand will play the third Test beginning on Friday