Kings XI Punjab assistant coach Sanjay Bangar today defended the team's management decision to dump David Miller from captaincy, saying it was necessary for the interest of the side.
Miller was removed as Kings XI Punjab captain ahead of their match against table-toppers Gujarat Lions. Murli Vijay has been named captain of the team.
"We felt that David Miller's batting was suffering because of extra responsibility of leading the side and the decision was made just to free him from the extra burden of captaincy," Bangar told in a press conference here today.
"David (Miller) is an integral part of the team and we are looking forward to his vital contribution with the bat," he added.
Miller has scored only 76 runs so far in six matches and under his captaincy Punjab won only one game against Rising Pune Supergiants, while losing five matches to lie at the bottom of the points table.
Bangar said: "As a coach it's my job and I had to communicate to him and he took the decision in right spirit. the decision was taken for team's interest.
"It's not happened first time in the IPL that captaincy has been changed mid-way in the tournament. It has happened in the past," he said.
Asked about Vijay, Bangar said: "He (Vijay) is very keen to take the responsibility, he has led Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket and under his captaincy Tamil Nadu has won domestic T20 and one day tournament, so he has the experience of leading the side."
Punjab's overseas players didn't do much with the bat in IPL-9 but Bangar refused to blame them for their poor run.
"Not only overseas players have failed but Indian batsmen too could not contribute much with the bat for us and we want significant contributions from the Indian batsmen," he said.
He, however, praised Indian bowlers such as Mohit Sharma and Sandeep Sharma.
"Indian bowlers like Mohit Sharma and Sandeep Sharma have done well for us and now we want contributions from the Indian batsmen," he added.
