Batting coach Sanjay Bangar praised the lower order batsmen, saying their strong show was a positive for India.
Batting coach Sanjay Bangar praised the lower order batsmen, saying their strong show was a positive for India. The hosts were struggling at 139/6 at tea before finishing the day at 231/7 – the highest total by any team in this series.
Bangar had rich words for Ajinkya Rahane saying a “reworked strategy” helped the batsman find his feet after low scores early in the tournament. Excerpts: On Rahane’s knock: I think in the last two Tests, he has been slightly hurrying through his shots but he reworked his strategy a bit and is willing to spend time in the middle. The key to batsmanship in the longer format is to give initial time to the bowlers, get used to the pace of the wicket and this was a classic example of how you could do it. All credit to Ajinkya. It speaks a lot for his character. On Rohit Sharma’s tame dismissal: For him, he is coming off a T20 hundred, a one-day hundred, he hasn’t really got to play lot many Test matches in a row. That always plays as far as a batsman is concerned. I think as I have been saying earlier that you show faith in him, give him successive opportunities and then assess him.
On India’s approach from here on: If we could bat one more session, it will be a very good effort. The positive thing that has emerged in this series during past few matches is how the lower order has contributed. It used to be an issue but the manner in which the lower order has improved in Sri Lanka and here, we should take it as positive step.
