Team India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar to face the axe; replacement to be announced

The talk of the town during India’s World Cup campaign in England was India’s struggle in the middle order. While the debate whether the campaign was a success or failure still goes on, one thing is for certain and there is no hiding from the fact that neither Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul nor Vijay Shankar could rise up to the occasion.

Before the World Cup, Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu were also among the stars whose names were discussed. However, nothing helped and though Shreyas Iyer, at number 5, showed promise in the recently concluded Windies vs India ODI series, batting coach Sanjay Bangar is being held responsible for not sorting out the middle order woes and might end up losing his job.

After the re-appointment of Ravi Shastri as the head coach of Team India, the pages have turned to select his supporting staff. Head of selection committee MSK Prasad, along with other selectors, started the hiring process on Monday and are conducting the interviews in Mumbai.

Along with batting coach, Prasad and Co. will also select the bowling coach, fielding coach, and administrative manager during the process extending till Thursday.

Arun likely to continue

Bowling coach Bharath Arun has the backing of Ravi Shastri and is likely to retain his job after a tremendous performance by the bowlers. However, former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad, Darren Gough, and Sunil Joshi will still be interviewed.

Meanwhile, former Test opener Vikram Rathour has emerged as the favorite to replace Bangar. The 12 shortlisted candidates also include Pravin Amre, Amol Muzumdar, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Sri Lanka’s Thilan Samaraweera, and former England batsmen Jonathan Trott and Mark Ramprakash.

For the post of fielding coach, legendary South African fielder Jonty Rhodes is in line. He might replace Sridhar, despite him enjoying Shastri’s support. Abhay Sharma is also a contender.

Vikram Rathour – A prolific run-scorer

Rathour was a prolific run-scorer at the first-class level, scoring 11,473 runs at an average of 49.66 in 146 matches. He scored 131 runs in 10 innings in Test career. He has also served as the national selector from the North Zone and the coach of Vizag Victors.

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