Sanjay Bangar, appointed head coach of the India cricket team during their tour of Zimbabwe scheduled to start June 11, is happy with the players he has at his disposal for the series. The Men in Blue are set to play three ODIs and T20Is in Harare.
The India squad for the tour consists of fresh faces like KL Rahul, Dhawal Kulkarni and Kedar Jadhav. The leader of the young side, however, will still be India limited-overs cricket captain MS Dhoni.
'Captain Cool' himself mentioned on Tuesday in a press conference that although the players may have performed well in the Indian Premier League, playing for the national team is a different ball game as the responsibilities increase. Bangar, on his part, has firm belief that the team will prosper during the tour.
"All of them have worked very hard to earn the India colours. Each one is capable of winning the match for his team on his given day," Bangar said in an interview to BCCI.tv on Wednesday. "You have spin bowlers who can turn the course of the match and pacers with special abilities.
"You have Dhawal Kulkarni who has got great experience of first-class cricket. He has got great control and is capable of bowling at all stages of the game. Then, you have Jasprit Bumrah who is always learning. He made a huge mark since he played for India since January. Barinder Sran is someone who is exciting and brings his own skill set being a left-armer which is always an added strength. You have a Rishi Dhawan and Yuzvendra Chahal who has done consistently well in the IPL and shorter formats.
"In the batting department we know how Manish Pandey played that dazzling knock in Sydney against Australia and won us that game. We then have Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu, who both scored a century in the tour of Zimbabwe. KL Rahul has made a mark in the IPL and has had success in the past with the Indian Test team. All this with the presence of MS Dhoni gives a fantastic opportunity for the younger guys to showcase their talent," explained Bangar, who was the assistant coach of the Men in Blue when Ravi Shastri was the India team director.
The former Indian cricketer also mentioned that the only worry for the new-look India side will be to adapt to the conditions in Zimbabwe at the earliest.
"We have a fair idea of what they are capable of and how we can optimise their strengths into the composition of the team. Not many of them would have played in Zimbabwe and getting used to the conditions in such a short period would be a major challenge," continued the 43-year-old.
"The conditions too are a bit challenging as compared to the other parts of the world. We don't really have a lot of time there and we play our (first) match straightaway. Passing on the information and experiences that we have had from the previous tour would be vital. We have to make sure that the players are very well prepared and equipped to counter the challenges," he added.
