From settled to muddled, the tale of India’s middle order Struggling Raina gets support from captain Dhoni
CHENNAI: In the space of a few days, the India middle order wears a muddled look.
Asked about Ajinkya Rahane’s role, when he sat out in the first two T20s, MS Dhoni said it was difficult to accommodate the Mumbai batsman in the middle order as his game was suited at the top and there was no vacancy there.
In the Kanpur ODI, Rahane was back, batting ahead of Virat Kohli at No 3, going with the captain’s assessment of his strength.
“To an extent, No 4 is quite low for him. I’ve always felt he is someone who should bat up the order. Opening is a slot that fits him well. We’ll try to feature him in the top three, but if not, he’ll find it difficult to feature,” Dhoni said before the first ODI.
VIRAT DEMOTED
Kohli’s demotion in the order was backed by the skipper on how robust the batting looked with Rahane at No 3, followed by Kohli, Dhoni and Suresh Raina.
The arrangement seemed to work as Rahane scored half centuries in Kanpur and Indore. But the biggest point Dhoni proved was when he hit a belligerent 92.
“Kohli at 4, Raina or me at 5 and 6, followed by Axar (Patel) gives the strength that’s needed. These are the kind of batsmen who can play either type of cricket. It gives confidence in the middle order.”
Dhoni confessed why he still wanted to bat down the order but could not, looking at the squad.
“Once I left Test cricket I thought I want to enjoy ODI cricket. I want to bat up the order. But when I come over here and see my team, I find it difficult to promote myself because you have the pressure of who is going to bat at No 5, 6 and 7.”
This was turned upside down in Rajkot. Kohli came back at No 3, which implied Rahane did not have a spot at the top.
So, from Rahane-Kohli-DhoniRaina, the skipper changed it to Kohli-Dhoni-Raina-Rahane. Dhoni said it was to pull the players out of their comfort zone and break the ‘rigidity’.
DOWN THE
ORDER
“When you bat down the order you know the difficulties. I won’t say it’s easy to bat up the order but you always have a cushion. But once you are batting at five or six, you have to back yourself and say, ‘okay I can’t really mistime it’,” Dhoni said after the loss in Rajkot.
It is not new to try out players at various positions, and Dhoni has made some masterful moves in the past, but there has never been so much contradiction coming from one man. India lost by five runs Overs Conceded E/R
1-35 164 36-40 30 41-50 109 Total
4.68 194 6.00 20 10.90 84 6.06 298 India lost by 18 runs 1-35 183 36-40 27 41-50 60 Total
1-35 36-40 41-50 Total 303 270 347 57 169 573 5.22 162 5.40 23 6.00 67 5.40 252 4.95 5.70 8.45 5.73 Scored E/R 356 43 151 550 5.54 4.00 8.40 5.96 4.62 4.60 6.70 5.04 5.08 4.30 7.55 5.50 RAJKOT: Struggling for runs in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa, underfire Suresh Raina has got the muchneeded backing of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who advised the middle-order batsman to give himself a bit more time before unleashing his big shots.
TIME NEEDED
“More than the form he needs to give himself a bit more time. He’s gone in and played the big shots. Whenever you go in you actually have more time than what you think. I’s important for him to play a few deliveries,” said Dhoni at the post-match press conference after India lost the third ODI by 18 runs on Sunday. “It’s not easy to straightaway play the big shots. He needs to give himself a bit more time as it becomes difficult to find people who can clear the big outfield. My personal feeling is he needs to give himself a bit more time and everything will be fine,” said the captain. The left-hander was dismissed for ducks in the last two games after scoring 3 in Kanpur. He did not have a great time in the preceding T20 series as well against the visitors.
Talking about the loss, Dhoni said the wicket became increasingly slower as the game and made life difficult for the batsmen.