‘We’d pour extra water on the pitch’: Sanjay Bangar reveals Virat Kohli’s secret training in England

NEW DELHI: As India look to recover from a disappointing white-ball tour of the UK, former batting coach Sanjay Bangar has revealed the extraordinary lengths Virat Kohli went to conquer English conditions, offering a fascinating insight into the painstaking preparation.The India tour came to a head as Ireland swept the T20I series 0-2 and followed that up with an unassailable 0-3 deficit against England in the five-match T20I series after a crushing nine-wicket defeat in the fourth match in Bristol on Thursday.With the inconsequential fifth T20I yet to come, attention is already shifting to the three-match ODI series starting in Birmingham on Tuesday, where veteran batsmen Kohli and Rohit Sharma will return under Shubman Gill.

“We poured extra water on the pitch”

Speaking on The Great Indian Cricket Show on Doordarshan, Bangar recalled how Kohli completely overhauled his preparation after enduring a disappointing tour of England in 2014.“When you go to England, the whole game is about two things: how well you can counter swing and how late you can play the ball,” Bangar said. “Since Virat Kohli didn’t have great results during the 2014 tour, he put in a huge amount of work during 2017-18 to rectify that.”Bangar revealed that India’s training sessions in Mumbai were designed to mimic English conditions as closely as possible.“Our routine was brutal; we hit the ground in Mumbai at 6:00 or 6:30 in the morning, just to chase away the morning dew. We wanted to start as early as possible so we could mimic the English conditions, taking advantage of the heavy morning atmosphere and the natural humidity of the outdoor pitch,” he revealed.As the weather eased, the coaching staff improvised.“If the sun came out and the moisture on the wicket started to drop, we would literally pour extra water on the surface just to keep the ball moving,” he added.

Exercise that paid off

According to Bangar, Kohli has repeatedly adopted challenging sessions in pursuit of technical perfection against the swinging ball.“Virat did this grueling practice repeatedly,” he revealed.The former batting coach believes these careful simulations played a significant role in India’s improved performances in England.“Because three or four of our starting batsmen were able to fine-tune their bat through these precise simulations, we were very successful in winning matches,” he explained.The revelations come as the young Indian batting line-up has struggled badly in seam-friendly conditions during the ongoing T20I series against Ireland and England.Kohli, who trained in Mumbai with Bangar before traveling to England for the ODI leg of the tour, is expected to shoulder much of the batting responsibility alongside Rohit Sharma as India look to salvage some pride after a disappointing T20I campaign.