Sanjay Bangar has seen the growth of Indian cricket very closely. He has been part of the setup for five years, and as batting coach, he played a vital role for the team. Now that Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to part ways with him, Bangar is not dwelling much on that but thinking of a restart.

“Being disappointed was a natural feeling which lasted for a few days. This break gives me time to reflect, rethink and reinvent,” Bangar was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

Bangar’s contract was not renewed and his term came to an end after India’s tour of West Indies which ended two weeks back. Bangar was thankful that he could help Indian cricket but reflected on the progress that the team had made.

“I look back at the progress the team has made since 2014 and being world number one for three years in a row with happiness,” he said. “We won 30 out of the 52 Tests we played and 13 of them were overseas. We consistently did well in the ODIs as well. The only thing that eluded us was the World Cup.”

Part of two World Cup for India as team staff, Bangar saw India lose to Australia in the semi-final of 2015 World Cup and then to New Zealand in 2019 at the same stage.

The team selection in 2019 came under a lot of criticism especially the players for the number four position. Bangar said the decision was made after a lot of discussion.

“The entire team management and selection committee were part of the decision making for the number four in the lead up to the World Cup,” he said. “The choice of player relied on current form, fitness test criteria, whether he could bowl, etc.”

As a batting coach, Bangar said that honing the technique of batsmen is the most crucial aspect.

“Virat always looks to iron out deficiencies,” he said. “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 a lot. We worked on how he could get behind the line and open up scoring areas and overcome his dismissals against the short ball.

“With Rohit, we constantly worked on his head position to overcome his problems against incoming deliveries from right/left arm angles. In Pujara’s case, we worked on reducing the width of his stance, and how he could be more upright. It is to their credit that they worked tirelessly to unlearn old methods and learn new ones through constant repetition.”