Don't call coaches Indian or overseas, says Sanjay Bangar

Sanjay Bangar

Sanjay Bangar, who was recently apponited as assistant coach of the Indian team for their ODI series and lone T20 against England, has said that it is unfair to label coaches by their nationality and added that it is the expertise of the people in charge that is more important.

"It should never be termed as an Indian or an overseas coach," Bangar told ESPNcricinfo in an interview. "We need to get over such things. You need to be competent enough. You need to be challenging your own benchmark on a regular basis. Cricket is evolving and any person in that capacity (coach) needs to constantly evolve, try and improve and bring fresh ideas."

Bangar, along with Bharat Arun and R Sridhar, had been called in by the BCCI to assist head coach Duncan Fletcher during the recent limited-overs series in England after their abysmal performance in the Test series. Despite having very little time to prepare for the job, Bangar said that he wasn’t too fazed by the prospect of working with the national team at the highest level.

"I just look at the job as one level ahead, as a responsibility. It is again about trying build relationships, trying to earn respect, trying to earn the trust of the people you work with. It takes time," Bangar said.

The 41-year old was appointed head coach of Kings XI Punjab for the 2014 IPL season, making him only the second Indian coach to ever take charge of an IPL team after Lalchand Rajput, who was with the Mumbai Indians during the inaugural season in 2008.

Despite having very little experience of coaching at the top level, Bangar did an excellent job in taking the Kings XI to their first ever IPL final. George Bailey, captain of the Kings XI, spoke extremely fondly of Bangar’s man management skills and also praised the in-depth knowledge Bangar had of domestic Indian players.

Bangar, however, gave a fair bit of credit to Virender Sehwag, who, in his eyes, was extremely critical in keeping the dressing room united. Sehwag has been out of the Indian team for more than a year now, but Bangar believes that Sehwag still carries the same aura and has not ruled out a comeback to the national side for the Delhi opener.

"His overall personality and the way he conducted himself without any sort of inflated self-importance had a tremendous impact on the entire group. Not just the uncapped Indian players, but even among the overseas players."

"By the way he has played his cricket (in the IPL) he has made a case for himself. The hundred he got in the qualifier (122 off 58 balls against Chennai Super Kings) was a special innings and everybody would agree to it."