‘Batting tweaks, discipline helped turn things around’
NOTTINGHAM: Indian batsmen made a collective impression and batting coach Sanjay Bangar praised them for putting technical tweaks into practice after the heavy loss in the Lord’s Test.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan made only 35 and began his second innings well after being recalled in place of Murali Vijay but was a transformed version from the one who nicked twice walking into swing bowling in the first Test at Edgbaston. His 60-run stands with KL Rahul in each of the two innings set the tempo for India.
Bangar said the 18.4 overs the openers played out in the first innings against the Dukes new ball that encourages swing bowling made the difference as skipper Virat Kohli (97) and Ajinkya Rahane (81) cashed in later. “In the previous two Tests, we were losing two or three wickets inside the first 15 overs. Because of that, the middle-order batsmen were walking in early in difficult conditions. It was not just the start but also the way they were batting was good,” he said.
“The way Shikhar made changes to his batting, the way he reduced his bat speed, the way he played the ball later, these adjustments he made in the last 6-7 days, and he should get credit.
“Rahul too was playing on the backfoot, was reacting after the ball’s movement. These changes the batsmen have made make me hopeful for the rest of the series. If our batsmen can play in the same way, their performance graph will keep on improving.”
“We all know conditions were pretty harsh at Lord’s and before that the Test we lost was by a gap of 31 runs. I agree the performances of the batsmen were not to our expectations. But certain adjustments were made, batsmen applied themselves, showed a lot of discipline in leaving balls.
“Batsmen used some shots square of the wicket, and overall, I think the discipline was far, far better.”
The batting collapses had also put Bangar under pressure.
“All of us understand there is no magic wand with which we can work on any batsman. Handling pressure is part and parcel of any professional’s job… And the players themselves are under tremendous pressure, they are playing for their careers. (But) at times when things don’t really work in your favour, it’s important to maintain composure.” Bangar praised Rahane. “Even at Lord’s, Rahane was looking solid till the time he chased a widish delivery. He is a quality player, we all know that. Ravi Shastri coming out and saying he is our pillar, he is still a pillar of Indian batting, that might have done a whole lot of good for his confidence.