Sanjay Bangar satisfied with Indian openers' performance on Day 1
BCCI
India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar has credited the Indian openers for providing a good start on the opening day of the Trent Bridge Test against the Englishmen. Bangar has also credited the Indian batsmen for making technical changes to help them play the moving ball in tough conditions.
The Indian openers were finding it difficult to provide a solid start against the Englishmen in the ongoing Test series. The poor run by the openers forced the team management to make changes in the opening combination as well. First, they went with Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan and then at Lord’s with Vijay and KL Rahul. But nothing changed and the middle order was exposed to the new ball quite early on both the occasions. Come the third game, India went with Dhawan and Rahul and the combination clicked as they added 60 runs for the opening wicket and the first wicket fell in the 19th over. Bangar feels that both Dhawan and Rahul did a good job for the team and he is quite satisfied with them.
"The most important thing was the opening partnership was according to our expectation. In the previous two Tests, we were losing two or three wickets inside the first 15 overs. Because of that, the middle order was walking in early in difficult conditions. It was not just the start but also the way they were batting was good,” said Bangar at the press conference after the day’s play.
In the middle order as well, skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane batted extremely well. All the Indian batsmen made some change or the other in their batting technique to help them face the swinging ball well in the conditions
"The way Shikhar made the 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 six or seven days, he should get credit. KL Rahul, too, was playing on the back foot, he was reacting after the ball's movement. These changes the batsmen have made make me hopeful for the rest of the series. With five more innings left, if our batsmen can play in the same way, their performance graph will carry on to improve," informed Bangar.
The batting coach also praised Rahane for his sensible batting and the partnership that he stitched with skipper Kohli. Rahane’s first Test half-century in 14 innings is a positive sign for the Indian team with still five innings to go in this series in England.
"His mindset was very clear. He was very positive, his feet were moving well. He was getting into good positions…at times there can be a lapse in concentration which can lead to losing your wicket, which had happened in the previous Test. But he seemed to be in good nick and he
