Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar was today named as the head coach of the Indian Cricket Team for the tour of Zimbabwe next month set to commence on June 11, 2016. The Indian team is slated to play 3 ODIs and 3 T20I during the tour at the Harare Sports Club, Harare, and would leave for the African nation after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Abhay Sharma, who has been associated with the India A team as the fielding coach in the past, has been named as the senior team’s fielding coach for the tour. These two selections put an end, albeit momentarily, to the long-standing issue of the search for a proper head coach for the Indian Cricket Team, after the contracts of the Team Director Ravi Shastri, the erstwhile batting coach, Sanjay Bangar, and the bowling coach Bharat Arun were not renewed after their expiry, post the ICC World T20 2016.
The trio of Shastri, Bangar and Arun were given their respective responsibilities after India’s shambolic display in England in 2014, wherein the team had lost the 5-match Test series 3-1. They were supposed to work with the then head coach of the side, Duncan Fletcher. Fletcher’s contract had expired at the conclusion of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, which was held in Australia and New Zealand, and wasn’t renewed thereafter.
In his two-year stint as the batting coach of the Indian team, Bangar had made specific inroads with some of the top Indian batsmen such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane, and also oversaw some of the famous victories that came the team’s way, such as the 5-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka in 2014, and the 3-0 Test series victory at home against the then No. 1 Test team in the world, South Africa.
Apart from the national side, Bangar has also been associated with the Kings XI Punjab franchise of the IPL, as their head coach, wherein he had led them to finals in the 7th season of the league in 2014 under his able guidance. Having said that, it must be believed that Bangar’s long association with the team and the players would significantly help him during the discharge of his new set of responsibilities.
Former fielding coach of the India A side as well as the India U-19 team, Abhay Sharma, has been given the responsibility of working with the senior team now, and given his association with some of the players being picked in the squad at the junior level, the road mustn’t be very difficult for him. He had worked with Rahul Dravid to help the Indian colts reach the final of the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup 2016, held earlier this year in Bangladesh.
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