NEW DELHI: As India look to bounce back from a disappointing white-ball tour of the United Kingdom, former batting coach Sanjay Bangar has revealed the extraordinary lengths Virat Kohli went to to overcome English conditions, offering a fascinating glimpse into the painstaking preparation.India’s tour was derailed by a 0-2 T20I series whitewash in Ireland followed by an unassailable 0-3 deficit against England in the five-match T20I series after a crushing nine-wicket loss in the fourth match in Bristol on Thursday.With a lopsided fifth T20I still to come, attention has now shifted to the three-match ODI series that begins in Birmingham on Tuesday, where experienced campaigners Kohli and Rohit Sharma will return under the captaincy of Shubman Gill.
“We poured more water on the pitch”
Speaking on Doordarshan’s The Great Indian Cricket Show, Bangar recalled how Kohli completely overhauled his preparation after a disappointing tour of England in 2014.“When you go to England, the whole game comes down to two things: how well you counter the swing, and how late you play the ball,” Bangar said. “Since Virat Kohli did not have a good run during the 2014 tour, he has put in a huge amount of work during the 2017-18 season to fix that.”Bangar revealed that India’s training sessions in Mumbai were designed to mimic English conditions as much as possible.“Our routine is brutal; we hit the Mumbai ground at 6:00 or 6:30 in the morning just to chase the early dew. We want to start as early as possible so that we can simulate the English conditions, using the heavy morning atmosphere and the natural humidity of an uncovered pitch,” he revealed.When the weather became less challenging, the coaching staff improvised.“When the sun comes out and the moisture on the wicket starts to come down, we literally pour more water on top just to keep the ball around,” he added.
Practice that pays off
According to Bangar, Kohli has adopted demanding sessions over and over in pursuit of technical perfection against the swinging ball.“Virat repeated that scary practice,” he revealed.The former batting coach believes that painstaking simulations play a major role in improving India’s performances in England.“Because three or four of our core batsmen were able to improve their batting through exact simulations, we were very successful in winning matches there,” he explained.The revelations come at a time when India’s young batting line-up has struggled mightily in seam-friendly conditions in the ongoing T20I series against Ireland and England.Kohli, who trained in Mumbai with Bangar before traveling to England for the ODI leg of the tour, is expected to shoulder most of the batting responsibility alongside Rohit Sharma as India try to salvage pride after a disappointing T20I campaign.