Sanjay Bangar Praises Indian Bowling Attack's 'Professionalism' Against New Zealand

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Former India cricketer Sanjay Bangar has showered praise on India's bowlers for putting up a professional performance against New Zealand in the three-match T20I series.

He listed out the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel along with pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel as key performers in India's bowling attack. India completed a 3-0 sweep over New Zealand in T20Is, marking a good start to their preparations for next year's T20 World Cup in Australia.

"They have been very professional, they have been put under the pump a bit by the New Zealand openers but the way Indian spinners have responded in the middle overs has been fantastic. So, Ashwin and Axar Patel both bowling well in tandem has really worked well for the Indian team in the middle overs and when they were chasing," said Bangar on Follow The Blues show on Star Sports.

Bangar further spoke about Kumar gaining his form after being out of the playing eleven posts the T20 World Cup opening match against Pakistan, emphasising on his dismissal of Daryl Mitchell in the first T20I at Jaipur.

"Can't take anything away from somebody like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who's got his swing back because whenever he's played and he's bowled with that new ball, he's got his swing back. The wicket that he took in the first match of Daryl Mitchell was a dream and it augers really well for the Indian team because he's somebody who can give you those initial breakthroughs in the first six overs inside the powerplay and that sets any opposition on the back foot."

Bangar, who served as the batting coach of India from 2014 to 2019, applauded Patel's efforts in using the variations at the back-end of the innings.

"Add to that, how Harshal Patel took his chance in his debut match was really impressive because he's someone who's been known to rely a lot on his slow ball variations and in a match wherein there was a lot of dew. Despite that, he overcame that challenge and bowled really well with a wet ball and still used his variations, with cutters and slow bouncers. I felt that was a big plus for the Indian team as well."

The 49-year-old signed off by mentioning the consistent show put on by openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in the series. "I felt that the form that both the openers are turning out on a consistent basis has been really clinical for the Indian team performances in the series so far."