Sanjay Bangar: ‘Our batsmen let go of good starts’

Tom Latham and Kane Williamson put on a century stand to steer New Zealand to 152/1 after the second day’s play here. From a similar position, India lost eight wickets for 137 runs yesterday. Sanjay Bangar, the team’s batting coach, regretted the failed starts. But he was hopeful of his team breaking through tomorrow.

Excerpts from his media interaction:

On Indian batsmen not consolidating on their good starts:

We definitely feel so. Five or six batsmen got starts, a couple of our batsmen got fifties as well. It’s very important on such wicket, where run scoring is a bit of grind, that someone who gets a start should make sure that he makes a contribution which is substantial. It’s unfortunate that none of the batsmen who got start could convert it into a big knock for the team.

On New Zealand’s efforts so far:

Every touring team comes out with a plan. They applied themselves well. If you look back into the game, we were in a similar position. We were 150 odd for one at one point of time, so when ball starts to get older and batsman tire a bit, you get a breakthrough, then it can be a totally different ball game. [Kane] Williamson and [Tom] Latham batted the same way [Murali] Vijay and [Cheteshwar] Pujara batted for us.

On getting breakthroughs:

For new batsmen, it will be a struggle. In second session we bowled well. Spinners and pacers kept the batsmen under pressure. It’s a matter of the wicket. We have to be patient. We will have to wait for that one breakthrough. There were a few close calls in second session. It’s a matter of putting pressure back on them.

On the rain break:

Ideally we would have loved to have the number of overs we lost today. It was starting to turn a bit, bowlers were getting into a good rhythm. Rain and the intermittent breaks in between definitely hampered the rhythm of our bowlers.

On New Zealand’s ploy of sweeping more:

Our batsmen use their feet confidently while negotiating spin, but the visiting batsmen play sweep shots more. We have also evaluated that we have used the feet for about 30-35 times and they stepped out just twice. It’s question of an individual’s strength.