India’s show in the series so far has been impeccable, with four wins out of four. The team has one more ODI to play, in Ranchi, before they embark on the rather lengthy tour of Australia, starting with the Test series and culminating in the World Cup.
On the eve of the fifth ODI against Sri Lanka, India’s assistant coach, Sanjay Bangar, said the Test series has been on the team’s mind even as they have focused on winning every game in the series.
“We have been preparing for the longer format simultaneously as some players who are part of the Test squad are also with this team,” Bangar said. “We have been practicing with the Test series in mind.”
Bangar said, some of the selection and strategising in this series has been done keeping in mind the conditions that the team will face in the World Cup. One of them was to get the innings off to a solid rather than a fiery start, and keeping wickets in hand.
The pattern of India’s batting in this series has been caution followed by attack leading eventually to a big total on the board.
“We spoke about the importance of keeping as many wickets in hand as possible in the latter half of the innings,” Bangar said. “That is the conscious effort we have made, especially keeping in mind that we have two new balls and the conditions that we expect to face in Australia.”
Another aspect Bangar said the team is focusing on is the pace attack. He said they are doing the best to keep all the fast bowlers fresh and fit by rotating and resting them as and when needed.
“There is a lot of rotation happening and bowlers who have played a lot in the recent past, people like Bhuvi and Shami, have been given rest. This is with the intention of having an all-fit pace attack in Australia. The preparations have been spot on and the workload is monitored properly. We have probably the best seam attack going to Australia in years now.”
Pleased with India’s recent streak of wins in ODIs, Bangar said in this series the team has managed to achieve various goals in this span.
“There have been a lot of positives that have emerged,” he said. “Earlier we thought there are not many spinners around. Here we see that there are four of five of them in contention.
“Umesh (Yadav) has been a big plus and he has improved a lot as the matches have progressed. He has more control now and is giving us wickets in the initial overs, which so crucial and is helping the team’s cause.
“One major reason why we have done so well in the matches after the England series is that a lot of our batmen have managed to get big scores. We have already seen seven hundreds being scored and they’re all from different batsmen. So, it’s great that everybody is chipping in with these vital contributions,” Bangar said.
As for the fifth ODI, Bangar revealed that the team has decided to rest Suresh Raina, hence opening up opportunities for those in the squad who have not had many chances.
“Everybody has been getting opportunities more or less. For tomorrow’s game we have rested Suresh (Raina), so the boys who have missed out so far, have a very good chance to play.”
By: BCCI
