Former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar recalled that Virat Kohli called every player in the dressing and urged them to go for the target of 364 runs against Australia in the Adelaide Test match in the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
Kohli was leading for the first time after MS Dhoni had announced his retirement in the middle of the series. Bangar said playing for draw was not on Kohli’s mind and he wanted to go for the win at all cost.
The talisman scored twin centuries in the Adelaide Test, returning with scores of 115 and 141. India was bowled out for 315 in the second innings and eventually suffered a 48-run loss.
“India couldn’t register a win in that series, but it left an imprint that the team was trying to achieve something different. It was an extremely important tour for Virat Kohli because in 2014, he got out to Jimmy Anderson many times. If you have a bad series and then a second consecutive series goes bad, then many questions start getting raised as to whether you can maintain your place in Test cricket,” Sanjay Bangar said on the Great Indian Cricket Show on DD Sports.
“So he was extremely driven to improve that thing. In the first Test, when we were going for the fourth innings and the target was around 350, he called everyone into the dressing room and said we would try to chase, that we had to play for a win and not for a draw, as four sessions were still left. Some other leader might have thought about trying to draw that Test,” he added.
The former Indian all-rounder added that the extra responsibility of captaincy got the best out of Virat Kohli as a batter.
“Sometimes it’s a boon for a player because some players thrive with responsibility. They become even better because they want that. When Virat got the captaincy, he was ready for it. MS Dhoni said goodbye to Test cricket at exactly the right time, when the team was ready in overseas conditions,” he replied.
Bangar added that the Indian was going through a transition under MS Dhoni’s captaincy and Kohli was able to establish himself as a batter.
“Before that, there were two or three slightly tough years for India. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and VVS Laxman had retired. So the Indian team was getting settled with a new set of players. When the team got ready after that period, Virat Kohli had also started scoring good runs in international cricket,” Bangar observed.
Kohli will be seen in action in the ODI series against the West Indies.
