India's assistant coach Sanjay Bangar backs MS Dhoni

Indias assistant coach Sanjay Bangar today came to the defence of the underfire Mahendra Singh Dhoni saying losing wickets at regular intervals did not allow the veteran campaigner to play freely in the second ODI at Lords Former skipper Dhoni took a lot of flak after uncharacteristic slow innings at Lords where he was even jeered while scoring 37 off 59 balls After skipper Virat Kohli and leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal Bangar backed DhoniWith the combination we are playing we do not have the depth at numbers 8 9 or 10 the lower order and when you lose couple of wickets it becomes really difficult to bat with that sort of freedom Due credit to the England bowlers they didnt allow us to score any boundaries in that period and that was the reason the run rate kept climbing up Bangar said The third and final seriesdeciding ODI of this short series will be played at Headingley tomorrowHe was just hoping someone would bat with him and we were just hoping that he could bat till the 40th over and take the bowlers on But every time he looked to do that we lost wickets first there was Raina and then Hardik Pandya and then there was no batting to follow for him to do the usual stuff he does he added Notwithstanding the envy it evokes among opposing teams Bangar said Indias batting lineup is still a work in progress as the middle order needs to spend more time at the creaseThe way our top order is batting our middle order hasnt got the opportunities as the top order is doing the bulk of the scoring At times they straightaway walk into game situation Mind you not all of them are playing all the formats of the game so you have to give some weightage to that Bangar said at the prematch press conferenceComing straight to international cricket and doing the sort of things you are expected to do in this format is tough so continuity factor also plays a part The series is locked at 11 after India won by eight wickets in Nottingham while England won by 86 runs at Lords Going forward there are still 16 to 17 games to go were looking at the games remaining wherein we could look at settling the middle order slotsI am pretty sure that things are fluid at the moment Its not that a guy is only going to bat at a particular number he added KL Rahul failed at get going in the second ODI and India might be forced to have a rethink about their middle order for this finale Obviously the plan was to have a lefthander batting in the middleorderThat is the reason why Suresh Raina was picked ahead of Dinesh Karthik We did change a bit in the T20 format where KL batted at three and Virat batted at four Looking at this series and the performances that Virat has got at three especially in the last series he scored three hundreds versus South Africa in five gamesIt is going to be a very fluid situation Well see as to the players available and the fitness of the players Ambati Rayudu was someone who can bat very well in the middleorder but unfortunately he couldnt clear the fitness test But I am pretty sure going forward if he passes the fitness test he could also be a candidateLots of spots are open The good thing is that the bench strength that we have Rayudu Manish Pandey and Ajinkya Rahane There are enough spots for each and every eventuality that we might face leading up to the World Cup he added A key element for India going into the decider will be the availability of Bhuvneshwar Kumar While Kohli Chahal Umesh Yadav Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan were absent from the optional practice today Kumar was seen bowling at full tilt He will however undergo a fitness test before the gameHes a quality bowler Weve obviously been missing our two frontline bowlers in the ODI format Also provides us an opportunity because there are not too many games to go before the World Cup only 16 or 17 games It gives us an ideal situation to test the bench strength Also with the upcoming Test series coming we never wanted to take any chances with Bhuvi Hes very critical to the team plans Hes in with a chance to play tomorrow Hell have to go through some sort of a fitness test before we can confirm his availability for the next game Bangar saidWith the 2019 ODI World Cup now less than a year ahead Bangar outlined that the team is concentrating hard on preparation I think the amount of cricket were playing and the results weve got in the last 12 months or so the team is pretty used to it criticism That is something we cannot control but the guys are very focused he signed offAlso Read India Vs England MS Dhoni Booed By Indian Spectators During Second ODI For Slow BattingCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability 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