Sanjay Bangar Opens Up On MS Dhoni's Batting Position In The World Cup Semifinal

India made a premature exit from the ICC World Cup 2019 losing to New Zealand in the semifinals. The batting unit failed to chase down 239 runs set by the Black Caps after losing the top-order for almost nothing. Post the semifinal, there were speculations over sending MS Dhoni so late, and many made batting coach Sanjay Bangar the scapegoat of that wrong decision. Bangar has finally opened on the same saying that it wasn’t his lone decision.

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It was not my sole decision: Bangar

The Men in Blues lost their first three wickets within five runs with their top-scorers already back in the hut. Sensing some early troubles, the management promoted Dinesh Karthik ahead of MS Dhoni to revive the innings, but he failed to do so as India lost despite valiant efforts from Ravindra Jadeja and Dhoni. Former cricketers and cricket pundits slammed India’s decision to hold back the experienced batsman and opined that decision changed the face of the game. While skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri had categorically mentioned that it was a team decision, many had made Sanjay Bangar the victim of it.

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The former cricketer who is with the Indian team since 2015 has finally opened up on the ongoing talks. In a chat with Hindustan Times, Sanjay Bangar has mentioned that it was not his sole decision to hold back MS Dhoni. He also seemed baffled and said that they had given specific batting roles at the start of the World Cup.

“I am really flattered that people are looking at me from this angle because I am not the sole decision-making authority. Believe me, we assess and go through a lot of situations,” Bangar said.

“At the start of the World Cup campaign, specific roles were given to the batting group. It was decided that Dhoni could bat a little lower down (till that point he had batted at No 5) so that he could play post the 35th over as he could accelerate in the death overs and also take care of the lower order with his experience. So, he was slated to bat at No 6 in the semis,” he added.

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Furthermore, Sanjay Bangar revealed the rationale behind the decision to promote Dinesh Karthik in the batting unit against New Zealand. He also seems clueless by seeing people making him responsible for the decision to send MS Dhoni at seven.

“Dinesh Karthik was promoted to No 5 after consultations in the changing room to stem the fall of wickets and resurrect the innings and leave Dhoni, our most experienced player, to do the finisher’s job. Ravi Shastri has categorically stated that it was a team decision. So, I fail to understand why this perception that the decision to send Dhoni at No. 7 was solely mine,” Bangar concluded.