Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has shared that India captain Virat Kohli values Test cricket over other formats and termed the format as the most ‘beautiful format’ as well. However, India, under Kohli has once again lost an ICC event as they lost to New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship a couple of days ago.
Meanwhile, India will now play a five-match Test series against England in August and the former coach said that every team now wants to win each and every game keeping the ICC World Test Championship in mind as it has added a major context to the bilateral series as well.
“He has already scored close to 7,500 Test runs, and this is a format, where he just simply gives it his all,” Bangar said on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected. “It’s not that he doesn’t value T20 or ODI cricket; he plays with equal intensity, but the job satisfaction that he derives – because this is the toughest format. And in modern times, because there are no dead rubbers, so every Test match is valued, and every team is playing for a result. This means that whatever is on offer – from a batting perspective – is always challenging for the batsman,” he said.
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On the other hand, Virat Kohli has not been in his usual form as he hasn’t scored a century since October 2019. But, Sanjay Bangar believed that Kohli will soon get back in his zone and hit a hundred as well.
“So, to excel in each and every Test match, and obviously, to get over the drought of the three-figure – which may have been playing on his (Kohli’s) mind – I think this is something that he would look ahead to. The way he has batted in the first innings (of World Test Championship) was a clear indication of the kind of touch and the kind of rhythm that he was in. So, I think it augurs well for the Indian team,” Sanjay Bangar again shared.
Meanwhile, he thinks that the WTC final could have seen a different result if the rain did not play the spoilsport in Southampton. Notably, two days of the final were abandoned due to rain as well.
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“Yeah, definitely it could have been different,” Bangar said. “With a threat of rain looming over all the time, it doesn’t really give players the freedom to go out and play for extended amounts of time. Because obviously, there’s a break in concentration, as well as the normal wear and tear of the wicket – that it generally undergoes if it has completed 450 overs of play. Those are the other challenges as well. So, from that perspective, I feel yes, it does rob away some excitement, some challenges that you would want to see in a test match,” Sanjay Bangar concluded.
