MS Dhoni is fit to play the fifth ODI: The Indian Batting Coach has confirmed the participation of the wicket-keeper batsman.
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The Indian cricket team will be bolstered by the presence of former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the fifth ODI of the ongoing India’s tour of New Zealand at Wellington.
The development was confirmed by India Batting Coach Sanjay Bangar during his interaction with the media during the pre-match press conference. Given how India were bundled out for 92 in the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli and Dhoni in the previous ODI, the same was expected to be a pressing question.
“Ya. He is fit. He’ll play,” Bangar was quoted as saying on being asked about updates on Dhoni’s injury and participation in the last match. A hamstring strain had ruled out India’s most experienced cricketer from the last two matches.
India’s middle-order in ODIs has remained under the scanner for at least a couple of years now. While the current set of players seem to have given it stability, there are still a few unanswered questions about the same. Bangar put the same majorly due to the top-order doing exceeding well in the last few years.
“You want your best batsmen to play maximum number of balls and if you see, that has been the reason for our success. If the top-order bats really well, the middle-order doesn’t get those opportunities which are required for them to maintain their groove,” he said.
Having said that, Bangar also admitted that rotating players in the last two series was a conscious effort on the part of the team management and believed that it has reaped fruits for the team.
“It was a conscious effort to rotate the players [since the Australia series last month]. This [against New Zealand] is also one of those series where our top-order hasn’t got a hundred. So, it has given a lot of experience and time to out middle-order to go out there and bat and play situations and they’ve done really brilliantly,” he added.
