Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, India registered a comprehensive 3-0 series win over New Zealand in the just concluded T20I series and former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar reckoned that the spinners bowled very decently, which was one of the key reason behind the victory.
After winning the first two affairs of the three-match series in Jaipur and Ranchi by five and seven wickets respectively, the Men in Blue bundled out the visitors on a paltry 111 in the third match in Kolkata on Sunday evening to whitewash the BlackCaps.
India had challenging put a 185-run target before New Zealand. While left-arm orthodox spinner Axar Patel emerged with stunning figures of 3/9, Venkatesh Iyer and Yuzvendra Chahal also bagged a wicket apiece to help India register a comfortable win in Kolkata.
Speaking exclusively on Star Sports show FOLLOW THE BLUES, Bangar said: “They have been very professional, they have been put under the pump a bit by the New Zealand openers but the way Indian spinners have responded in the middle overs has been fantastic.”
“So, Ashwin and Axar Patel both bowling well in tandem has really worked well for the Indian team in the middle overs and when they were chasing, I felt that the form that both the openers are turning out on a consistent basis has been really clinical for the Indian team performances in the series so far,” he added.
Further analysing Team India’s performance in the three-match T20I series, Bangar expressed: “Can’t take anything away from somebody like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who’s got his swing back because whenever he’s played and he’s bowled with that new ball, he’s got his swing back. The wicket that he took in the first match of Daryl Mitchell was a dream and it augers really well for the Indian team because he’s somebody who can give you those initial breakthroughs in the first six overs inside the powerplay and that sets any opposition on the back foot.”
“Add to that, how Harshal Patel took his chance in his debut match was really impressive because he’s someone who’s been known to rely a lot on his slow ball variations and in a match wherein there was a lot of dew. Despite that, he overcame that challenge and bowled really well with a wet ball and still used his variations, with cutters and slow bouncers,” he added.
“I felt that was a big plus for the Indian team as well,” Bangar signed-off.
After the white-ball series, India will now take on the visitors in a two-match Test series, scheduled to begin on November 25 at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur. With regular skipper Virat Kohli being rested for the affair, Ajinkya Rahane will lead the home side against New Zealand.
Kohli will make a return to the side in the second and final match, which will be held at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai from Decemebr 3.
Significantly, the T20I series was the first assignment for Rohit Sharma as the full-time captain of India in T20Is while it was also the first task for Rahul Dravid as full-time coach after Ravi Shastri.