When India begin their home season against South Africa, they will have a new batting coach. Vikram Rathour has replaced Sanjay Bangar and he will face a new set of challenges. Bangar has been with the Indian team for a long time and looking back at his tenure, the former Indian batsman said that it was great being part of the setup.
He has seen the progress of several batsmen under his watch which also includes captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and the rest. Speaking with Cricbuzz about his tenure, Bangar spoke about how he helped different batsmen tweak specific things about their technique.
Changes made to techniques of different batsmen
"Virat always looks to iron out deficiencies. We worked on his alignments, positioning on the crease, his approach in seaming conditions. Shikhar was initially considered to be an off-side player, he used to stay beside the line of the ball. We worked on how he could get behind the line and open up scoring areas and overcome his dismissals against the short ball," Bangar said.
Speaking about Rohit Sharma, Bangar said that they worked together on combating the problems the right-hander faced against the incoming balls, while Pujara worked on reducing the width of his stance. He mentioned that these changes took time, but now the players were reaping the reward of the hard work put in.
"For Indian batsmen, who are not that tall and who play a lot on wickets with variable turn and bounce, footwork is a key component of batsmanship which allows greater control," Bangar said on the reasons why the wide stance, which was incorporated during Duncan Fletcher's stint, was done away with.
Indian cricket is replete with a number of superstars and very often, there are massive ego issues hogging the dressing room. However, Bangar said that he never faced any issues dealing with players since they built trust very quickly.
"Never. My experience in dealing with players is that once they trust you, they are more concerned about their future rather than the coach's past," he added.
As far as his coaching modus operandi is concerned, Bangar revealed that it was all about having a clear mindset, temperament and confidence.
"I was vigilant as to how a player stays close to these basic foundations and also his individual style of play, through regular video footage and one on one discussions," he revealed.
