England vs India: Indian batsmen ‘playing for their careers’ – Sanjay Bangar

Indian team’s assistant coach Sanjay Bangar on Saturday said that the Indian batsmen were under a lot of pressure and that they were, “playing for their careers” after an impressive show put on by the visitors with the bat on the first day of the third Test against England at Trent Bridge.

The Indian team was pummelled by the Englishmen in the first two Test matches when they went down by 31 runs and an innings, and 159 runs at Edgbaston and Lord’s respectively.

But Virat Kohli’s men showed a lot of character with the bat as they recovered from a tricky to 82/3 at one stage to end the day with 307/6 on the board.

The highlight of the Indian batting was a stellar 159-run partnership between Kohli (97) and Ajinkya Rahane (81) as the duo thwarted the English bowlers and helped the number one ranked Test team put on a good show.

“The players themselves are under tremendous pressure – they are playing for their careers. We understand that,” said Bangar, at the end of the opening day’s play at Trent Bridge.

To make at times when things don’t really work in your favour, it is important to maintain composure, have the same sort of sense whether things are going well or not going well. Maintaining your equilibrium, that helps,” he added.

The string of low scores by the Indian batsmen in the first two Tests raised a few eyebrows on the role of the support staff, but Bangar maintained that such pressure is a part of the job, reports NDTV.

He said, “All of us understand clearly there is no magic wand we can work on any batsman. You have to understand the last five Test matches we played abroad have been in really trying conditions, except for the Centurion Test.”

“Take the Johannesburg Test, which we from within the group believe was one of our best performances, not in terms of the number of runs but the victory we achieved in trying circumstances. So what we value is that Test win over any we have had,” Bangar added further.

He also said, as reported by NDTV,  “And yes, handling pressure is part and parcel of any professional’s job and we try and do whatever we can do, the support we can give and the plans that we can strategise.”

Bangar also stressed that changes made by the Indian batsmen in the third Test helped them cope up better and put on an improved show. Citing Shikhar’s example, he said, “The way Shikhar (Dhawan) 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 6-7 days. He should get credit. KL Rahul, too, was playing on the back foot, and 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,” he added.