Sanjay Bangar lauds India's 'fabulous batting performance'

Mohali: Sanjay Bangar, Team India’s batting coach, was thoroughly impressed with the way the team chased down New Zealand’s 286-run target to win the third ODI against New Zealand in Mohali on Sunday.

While Virat Kohli notched up yet another hundred in a run chase, under pressure MS Dhoni scored 80 runs off 91 balls to guide India to a seven-wicket win at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.

Bangar, who spoke with BCCI.TV, praised India’s batting effort saying: “It was a fabulous batting performance. We were expecting dew to set in today, but there was no hint of dew and the wicket slowed down considerably. The bowlers used slower balls and cutters a lot. From that point of view, it was a wonderful chase with a couple of good partnerships between MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli and Virat & Manish. It was a very pleasing performance.”

Kohli, after slamming a double hundred in the third and final Test against New Zealand, had credited Bangar for his inputs and throwdowns to help improve his game and keeping him in the good zone.

Bangar too looked utterly pleased with Kohli super show with the bat in Mohali.

The former India all-rounder praised Kohli and his ability to read the match situation and play accordingly and revealed what makes the Delhi batsman one of the best batsmen in the shorter format of the game.

“He reads the game very well. He is aware of the situations and he beautifully sets the game up. He runs hard, picks his scoring areas and exactly knows opposition’s plans apart from the game plan that he possesses. A combination of all these factors make him one of the best batsmen to play the shorter format,” Bangar said.

Bangar also shared his thoughts about Dhoni’s decision to come up the order to bat at number four. While Dhoni had been facing a lot of flak for not being able to finish the games, India’s limited-overs skipper showed why the opposition teams continue to rate him highly with his solid knock.

“He batted with a lot of freedom. Batting up the order, he hasn’t got many opportunities. He has been batting at No. 5 or 6. In the last two-three seasons, our top-order has done so well that he has had fewer opportunities to bat and that is why his performance or contributions have not been noticed. I am very pleased for him that he got enough time to spend in the middle. He hit the trademark shots that he has always been capable of, but he had been holding back. I am happy that he has not got that out of the cold storage,” said Bangar.