ICC World Cup 2019 | We are going to persist with Rishabh Pant, says Sanjay Bangar

The Indian cricket team suffered an embarrassing 31-run loss at the hands of Eoin Morgan & Co. at Edgbaston on Sunday. While many were critical of former India captain MS Dhoni’s batting performance, India youngster Rishabh Pant made his World Cup debut, batting at the highly-debated number four spot.

India's batting coach Bangar explained that Rishabh Pant was drafted into the XI to add a left-handed option in the middle order and said that they will stick with him for the upcoming games.

"The team management has been feeling the absence of a left hander after Shikhar was injured. It was a ploy to use right-left combination in the middle overs to upset the bowling plans a bit. Because of that Adil Rashid couldn't bowl the number of overs he'd have usually bowled.

"I felt he had a decent innings, played a couple of good shots and a partnership going. So yes we are going to persist with Rishabh. He's been on the sidelines for sometime. It's not like he has just joined. He's spent two weeks with us, he's a player who has done really well at international level especially in Tests. ODI format is slightly newer to him, the team management and senior players are trying to help him with various mindsets and roles that come with the middle order job, and importance of right-left combination. As also, marrying that thought process with the ability that he possesses. So he can straightaway put pressure on the spinners and it can help the team in a big way," Bangar was quoted as saying by Cricketnext.com. 

Bangar, who previously coached the Kings XI Punjab outfit, offered some insight into compositions for the upcoming games as he admitted that the loss against England will move them to make some experimental changes in the starting XI.

"This game, what it throws up, is that, the team management will be open to various combinations which can be played at looking at the venue, dimensions and conditions.

"We're open to all combinations where the three seamers can play along with Hardik. We're also looking at (Ravindra) Jadeja coming in, all players are up and figure in the team combinations we're thinking of. We're playing on the same track (against Bangladesh), we know the wicket and the dimensions well. We also have to assess from the bowling perspective on how to improve there. In the last 6-7 overs we gave plenty of runs, whether that's an area where the game slipped up, we'll also have to look at that. We also have to try and get those learnings into the next game. Every game is going to be crucial, we'll assess the things that went wrong and correct those," Bangar added.