Most India batsmen have done justice to their talent - Bangar
A year into his role as India batting coach, Sanjay Bangar talks about his overall experience, what the India batsmen have been working on, the Rohit v Pujara debate and Virat Kohli's technical adjustments
Something which has really been a memorable and an enjoyable experience. To be able to contribute to the cause of Indian cricket after retiring from the game, that too in such a capacity, has been an overwhelming experience. And I think our [the three assistant coaches B Arun, R Sridhar and Bangar] work speaks for itself, with the results we have got.
It was not much of a problem to be honest. And the credit for that should go to the boys. They made us really comfortable to begin with. And once we started knowing each other better, it has become a smooth ride. Being a group of Indian coaches, there was a bit of pressure to justify that Indian coaches can handle the national team effectively. There also was an additional sense of responsibility towards the Indian coaching fraternity. And I think we have been able to maintain the standards. That is something that I think we have been able to achieve.
It's an ongoing process. You cannot say that "okay now this has been achieved". It definitely makes sense that you need to spend a lot of time with players. Not just on the field, but even off the field you need to develop a trust factor. Once you achieve that, I think it becomes a lot of easier.
The planning was towards finding the right players. Based on that, the team tried to give opportunities to a lot of players, to the players who we were thinking would do the job for the Indian team in the World Cup. That was more or less on the one-day front. Definitely the World Cup was a big event but at the back of our minds, we knew that the toughest assignment would be the Australia Test series and the team would be judged by how it would perform on that 130-day tour in that trying place for cricket.
I think that is where the direction given by our team director was very very vital. That's where Ravi Shastri stood out in the sense because he was somebody who had succeeded in Australia. He ingrained that sort of quality that we need to stand up, look into the eye of the opposition and compete. That is something every Indian cricket fan wants. We want a team which competes on a cricket field. We had a poor overseas record in the last 15 Test matches or so. The will to fight was something that we wanted to seek. That team on the tour to Australia showed that. Even though we didn't get the results, it competed really hard and there were occasions when we could not close matches from winning positions, in Adelaide and Brisbane.
Every individual player is different. They have their different techniques. There are certain areas of strengths and vulnerabilities for every batsman. Some batsmen prefer getting behind the line while some batsmen want to stay besides the line of the ball. Based on that the areas where they score runs vary.
The hip alignment that we spoke of worked really well for him. He worked very hard on his hip alignment, back and across initial movement. Also Shastri advised him to stand outside the crease to get on top of the bounce. Apart from that, it's that individual desire and the hunger to go out there and take on the opposition which somebody like Virat has in abundance.
I don't think so because he is the one who batted beautifully in the first two matches and even in the third Test match, he spent a lot of time. He definitely had a great discipline on judgment outside off stump. What's happening is that the bowlers are going to start bowling wider to him. This is something he is aware of and he is wanting to add another element to his cricket. He is someone who is a very, very quick learner. With time, he wants to stay ahead of the game, ahead of the opposition all the time.
If you look at the past, there was only one such instance, in 1992, when the World Cup was preceded by a long Test series. The amount of time spent in Australia by that team and this team was quite similar. I think that is probably the best World Cup cricket played by an Indian team in Australia. You can add that in 1985, the Indian team won the World Series of Cricket. I do think that the quality of cricket played by that 1985 team and this World Cup team was very similar.
It was a very short tour and Ravi's availability was not on but he was regularly in touch with the team. Since it was only a short period, you cannot really judge.
It was collectively taken by all three of us, so it was a collective responsibility and that's how we were sharing it.
The biggest lesson learnt definitely was… we knew playing spin in Sri Lanka would be a challenge and our record playing spinners in the recent past has not been that great. We spoke about it, we worked on the shots that the batsmen wanted to employ going into the Test series. But somehow we could not execute it in that particular session. It called for an honest review, a very, very honest review, the players were up for it.
I think we are clear in our mind that we need to give enough time and opportunity for a player if we put him at a particular position before making the change. (Cheteshwar) Pujara was having a tough time, so he [Rohit] was given a fair run at No. 3. He batted very well in Sydney. He got starts in both the innings (53 & 39) but could not convert it into a big one. Bangladesh was just one innings. But you could see that just three innings prior to P Sara (second Test against Sri Lanka), he was scoring runs at No. 3.
If you look at the numbers, he has played 13 [14] Test matches and scored 800-900 [870] runs at an average of 40 [37.82] with two centuries, four half-centuries. I think if his critics can go back and compare the first 13 Test matches of any other cricketer who has played for a while, I think they would probably be less harsh on Rohit. I believe that in the matches that he has played so far - obviously everybody wants to contribute more - he has definitely contributed to the team's cause.
The approach for me generally is keeping the bench very, very strong. In fact, we give equal importance to the players who are not picked in the XI so that he gets enough opportunities, he is in the right frame of mind, his confidence levels do not take a hit, reasons for exclusion are told to him and keeping him match fit. So whenever that opportunity comes, he is ready.
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. 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.
I think 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.
It does prove to be advantageous. If (we are) batting last, with five bowlers in the team, the number of runs you are going to chase is going to be less. Instead of 350, you would probably be chasing around 275. At the same time, if you are bowling second, if you score 50 less runs, you know that there is a fifth bowling option, so probably we have better chance of bowling out the opposition for lesser total. There is an additional responsibility on the batting group but that is something which is vital to winning matches. That [bowling] is one area because of which the Indian team was not able to close matches.
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. 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.
At most times, having too many scoring options can lead to a batsman's downfall if the shot selection is not judicious.
I would say all these habits are formed by years of practice. The more amount of a particular format you play, the subconscious mind tends to form those habits which eventually creep in to the longer format of the game. So I think if one component has to be separated, it is that of playing with hard hands. And the quality of batsmanship that is required is of playing with soft hands and playing closer to your front pads. That is something all the players are aware of and have been working on. That is possibly the most basic challenge for all the batsmen.
I would say players at international level can adapt very quickly. As far as our group is concerned, our utility or effectiveness against quicker bowling has improved. You can say that we have probably not been able to dominate the slower bowlers as much as the earlier era did. The cause of it may differ but that is something which has been identified.
I don't think so. Yes, the spinners are bowling lesser and lesser, so we are actually playing less of spin in domestic cricket. Earlier in the 90 overs we played during our times, it would be 60 overs of spin and 30 of pace. Now I think it's tilted way too much in favour of one side. Now it's 70 overs of seam and 20 overs of spin. That is an area where we need to look at our domestic structure as well so that we have a good balance in honing the skills of our emerging batsmen vis-à-vis spin and pace.
It's a massive privilege to be able to discharge the duties of batting coach of the Indian team. Ideally, a longer stint is better for the individual concerned but again even if it's just for a series, it's a huge opportunity and accomplishment.
Amol Karhadkar is a correspondent at ESPNcricinfo