UPBEAT INDIA HEAD INTO ASIA CUP SERIES TO SHAPE WT20 TEAM: DHONI
As India head to Dhaka for Asia Cup, the skipper says team has it in them to regain World T20 title; wants batsmen to be aggressive
KOLKATA: Between giving it back to one trying to second guess his retirement and coming up with the type of questions that might be raised should India win the World Twenty20 or get knocked out at different stages, MS Dhoni made two things clear.
This team has the ingredients to win the title. The Asia Cup starting on Wednesday, along with the two warm-up matches after it, would be used to rotate the players and give them as much match time as possible.
Satisfied with the consistent performance, especially by the bowlers, in the T20s against Australia and Sri Lanka, Dhoni said on Sunday that this phase will help him forge a stronger team for the WT20 in India next month.
“Conditions were very different in Australia but we played three T20s there, followed by three T20s against Sri Lanka. Now the Asia Cup is in this format. It gives you time to settle into this format,” said Dhoni before the team’s departure to Dhaka for the Asia Cup.
“I have the belief and also the talent that’s required to win a big tournament. I feel this team has all the ingredients,” he said.
“This is a format where to some extent you have to take that price tag off the wicket. You have to be more aggressive, take more risks. And I always felt it’s easier to switch from T20 to Test. It’s good we are getting these games. We should get into the groove nicely.”
NOT GOING ANYWHERE
From the time he gave up Test cricket, the question of his retirement has followed Dhoni everywhere. His appointment as skipper until the end of the WT20 has only fuelled the assumption that he would sign off on a high at home. But Dhoni wasn’t amused by the question.
“If I answer a question one month or 15 days back, the answer doesn’t change in 15 days. So, irrespective of where I’m answering, the answer remains the same. What is your name? I will say MS Dhoni, and it will remain the same for a considerable period of time, unless you give me a new name.”
Despite leading in only ODIs and T20s, his approach to captaincy hasn’t changed. “I’m 100 per cent the same, there’s no change in views and tactics,” he said. And that meant there was no believing in champions’ luck.
“Definitely, luck is a big factor,” he said. “It may be the toss. You may have a game with dew and you lose the toss, or in a rainaffected game. All these things come into play. I don’t think there’s champions’ luck as such. Luck involves the moment you flip the coin.”
IRONING OUT FLAWS
Besides trying to win the Asia Cup, Dhoni will try to give each player some match experience so that a settled team that can negotiate any bend in the road to the WT20 title is formed. “What will be important is to keep the team fit and at the same time try to give as many games as possible to all the individuals. A lot of that will depend on where we are positioned in the tournament, in the Asia Cup specially. After that we have two games before the World T20 and I feel if everybody gets a chance to play, it will be very good for us.”
Dhoni also indicated that Ajinkya Rahane might have to wait for his turn in the shortest format. It was revealed when Dhoni played down the chances of promoting himself in the batting order under normal circumstances.
“In a normal scenario, I don’t see myself batting up the order because of the lineup we have got. Of course, if we have a partnership where everybody is doing very well and all of a sudden it’s the 18th or 19th over, then I may promote myself. But other than that in normal scenarios where everything goes well, I don’t see that happening,” he said, rattling off the batting line-up which didn’t feature Rahane. “It’s Virat, if he’s at 3, Raina at 4, Yuvraj Singh at 5, I am 6, then Jadeja, Hardik.”