Sanjay Bangar wants Indian batsmen to rotate strike better
Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar said that though he his impressed with the team’s collective batting performance, he wants the batsmen to rotate the strike much better, Times Of India reports. The 42-year-old also spoke about the contrasting leadership styles of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni but added that they have immense respect for each other.
Indian batting legend Rahul Dravid had last week suggested that the Indian team should rotate strike much better, especially in Tests and Bangar, who recently entered into his second year in his role as batting coach of the Indian team, also spoke about the importance of the same.
"Strike rotation is something we are all making our batsmen (aware) of. We are working on it. It is not only for one individual batsman, but it is for the entire batting group," Bangar told ESPNCricinfo. “How you can achieve it is you need to know the fields, you need to know the bowling plans, you need to play with softer hands closer to the body. That is an awareness the batting group is working on and there has been a marked improvement in that area."
India won it’s first away series for more than four years after triumphing against Sri Lanka 2-1 in the three-Test series with as many as five different Indian batsmen scoring centuries. Bangar expressed delight at how the batsmen have been performing over the last year.
"If you assess the performance, everybody has flowered into a very, very capable and effective batsman for the team. If you go through their statistics, with over 30 centuries collectively in the last year, so far most of them have been able to do justice to their talent," he said.
Bangar compares Kohli and Dhoni
One of the major changes since Bangar began his stint as Indian batting coach has been the appointment of Virat Kohli as Test skipper following the retirement of MS Dhoni from the longer format of the game. Dhoni continues to be the skipper in the ODI and T20 format and Bangar revealed that the coaching staff have separate plans for both skippers as they were different in many aspects.
"Every individual captain has his own style. This is an experiment which hasn't been tried much but is done now in Indian cricket. Both of them have immense respect for each other. Both of them know the kind of cricket the teams they are leading want to play. Our job is basically to integrate our ideas into their vision," Bangar said.
“Preparation for us is vital with both captains. It's a challenge to keep the team as best prepared as it can be in all aspects of the game so that whoever leads the team gives himself the best chance to win games for the country."