India on top gear, Dhoni hopes fitness issues don’t get in the way
dhonisays In tournaments like these usually a lot of wickets are flat to make for entertaining cricket. When you play at home it has its own set of challenges
Given that MS Dhoni has a thing for cars and bikes, the analogy was perhaps as obvious as his ability to finish a game of T20, Sunday being another example on a list India hopes would get longer in the next four weeks.
“We are running on sixth gear,” said the India captain here two days after winning the Asia Cup. Early in the media interaction, he had described India’s preparations as “perfect.”
That said, Dhoni also spoke about the importance to “keep the intensity up” and “to focus from the first ball.” Every team has two-three players who can win matches on their own and the shorter the format, the lesser the gap between teams,” he said.
on challenges of playing at home Virat (Kohli) is not a finisher, he sets up the innings. Those batting at 5, 6, 7 finish the game. When you are batting in that position, you need to remember that the number of batsmen after you is getting less and less. If you have three Virat Kohlis in the team, one of them may be a finisher
on Virat’s role in the team We must be in a really tough position for me to be playing 20-25 balls. I am looking at a 10-12 ball role for me
on his role as a finisher
ON A ROLL Things have indeed gone swimming ly for India ahead of the World T20. They won convincingly in Australia, overcame an early loss to beat Sri Lanka and then took the Asia Cup with a fair amount of comfort. In a format as unpredictable as T20, India have won 10 of their last 11 games. At different times during the conversation, Dhoni referred to India’s good run in T20s this year. Hence, the sixth gear allusion.
For once, India’s bowling looks shipshape. “It is a relief for me knowing who will bowl at the death. Earlier, I would see how everybody is bowling and then choose the slog-over bowlers. Now, we have specific death-over bowlers,” he said.
Later, at an open media session, Ha rb ha jan Singh said :“If our bowlers do well, our batting is sorted .” Dhoni announced that initially Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah would be used as “we don’t want to experiment too much.” Bumrah should have played for India two years ago, said Harbhajan of his Mumbai Indians teammate. FINISH ARTIST Going into the World T20 everything in this team looks sorted, right down to Dhoni’s batting. “I have always felt good when it came to batting. You need to see how much opportunity you are getting to bat. Ninety per cent of the time, I will play the role I did in the Asia Cup. We must be in a really tough position for me to be playing 20-25 balls. I am looking at a 10-12 ball role for me,” he said. Should things go India’s way that would come at the end of the innings as it did in the Asia Cup final.
What Dhoni said India would have to worry about is fitness. “I had said that in 2011 too. Fitness will be the key. You may lose one from the 11 to an injury that is not caused by him being hit by the ball and obviously, that is something you don’t want.” India already have Mohammed Shami on that list and Dhoni said the fast bowler would need to go through the drill to prove his fitness.
What about expectations of playing at home and being tagged favourites? The reply was typical ‘Captain Cool’. “Don’t think too much about expectations because it leads to pressure.”