Sanjay Bangar said that the Indian team will need a few matches to figure out if an aggressive batting approach would suit them.
India team captain Virat Kohli said that India would defeat England with an aggressive approach, but that tactic seemed to backfire in the first T20I as the hosts lost a plethora of early wickets and were defeated.
During a discussion on Star Sports, Sanjay Bangar pointed out the Indian team would have to wait a while before knowing the efficacy of the tactic.
“There were talks in the pre-match interview that they want to take the aggressive approach and increase the depth of batting. If you want to play aggressively from the first ball, then you will come to know if this tactic is suiting the team once you play 3-4 matches like that. If it doesn’t suit them, they should come back to the winning formula,” said Bangar.
The former Indian cricketer emphasized the inclusion of Axar Patel and Washington Sundar in the Indian team to increase the batting depth.
“Yuzevndra Chahal will play in all matches but Axar Patel and Washington Sundar were played because they have the ability to bat. This is where I feel India will have to think. Yes, if they want to play with this thinking, they will have to play continuously with this team,” observed Sanjay Bangar.
While reflecting on what went wrong for India, Bangar criticized Shikhar Dhawan’s shot selection and added that Rishabh Pant was a bit unlucky, with Shreyas Iyer’s batting being the only saving grace.
“There was some lack of footwork from KL Rahul. Virat Kohli wanted to go over the off-side because there was no fielder in the deep. Shikhar Dhawan played a slightly irresponsible shot because two wickets had already fallen. Rishabh Pant was a little unlucky because it was a well-timed shot which went straight to be fielder. Shreyas Iyer’s batting was definitely a positive for India,” said Sanjay Bangar.
The 48-year-old signed off by stating that Indian batsmen would have to formulate a strategy in response to England’s aggressive bowling tactics before the next encounter.
“They will have to think about how England bowled. The England pacers will bowl in the same fashion, bowl around 140kph and will not give width and use the short ball well. The side boundaries are big here. So that tactical awareness will have to be kept and rework will have to be done to prepare for the next match,” concluded Sanjay Bangar.
