India’s victory in the third ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur was nothing more than a consolation win and a feel good factor. The Indians lost their first ever bilateral ODI series against Bangladesh and were heavily criticized for their failures back home. A lot of people seemed to be thirsty for MS Dhoni’s blood, as he was often portrayed as the culprit behind the losses.
Some sections in the media took pleasure in bashing Dhoni to such an extent that common sense was greatly defied! Post the series was done and dusted, Suresh Raina, the man of the match of the third ODI openly spoke in favour of Dhoni. Raina said that it wouldn’t be sensible to disrespect the achievements of MS Dhoni as the captain. The southpaw also made it clear that a series loss wouldn’t make India a poor side.
“You can’t disrespect him (Dhoni) and what he has achieved,” Raina said. “He has won so many trophies for BCCI. At the same time he’s a good human being, good honest man. One series can’t make him bad. He’s a good leader. Everyone loves him in the dressing room. There’s still a lot of cricket left for him. So just wait for some time.”
Raina also generalized India’s form and said that ups and downs were a part of the game. “The team’s graph is going upwards definitely,” he said. “These were the last matches of the season. We don’t know when we are next playing one-days. We have done quite well in the format and we are still No.2 in the world. It’s not that you become good or bad in just one series,” summarized Raina.
Raina again praised Dhoni for shouldering the responsibility by batting at no.4. “The way Dhoni has batted in the last two games has showed how important No. 4 is for him,” Raina said. “He has taken a lot of responsibility over the years and he showed it today as well. He set the tone for us today with Shikhar. Me and Stuart had a good partnership after the 40th over, you can execute the big shots later on. Look at the kind of players we have. Look at Ambati Rayudu, he batted really well with MS also. So If you have a partnership of 70-80, then you can easily accelerate later on.” said Raina.
The dynamic batsman also said that he would be happy to bat anywhere in the batting order till he was successfully accomplishing his job. “No. 6 is not an easy position, you have to accelerate,” he said. “Sometimes you get runs, sometimes you don’t. But still you need to be positive in your mind. I am really happy. I have worked really hard with Ravi Shastri and at the same time Sanjay Bangar has really helped me a lot as well. Like I used to bat at leg stump, but Ravi said if you stay at middle you can play your shots over cover, over mid-off, over mid-on,” said Raina.
“My mindset has improved over the years as well. I have learned how to bat with the tailenders. When you are not scoring runs up front, you need to just look to bat really well with whoever comes in. Whether it is Jadeja, Axar, Ashwin, Stuart or Harbhajan…because you need to get a lot of runs towards the end because getting totals of 260-280 are easier to defend,” he said.
“No regrets moving down the order. I just want to win games for India. I can score a quick 40 or a quick 80. But still when we won the World Cup in 2011, I scored 35 not out against Australia and 37 not out against Pakistan. That’s my best innings ever. I would love to bat up the order, but whatever the team needs me to do, I just have to take that responsibility,” said a content Raina.
Raina also struck with the ball thrice and spoke about his slow off spin. “You know that five fielders are in and you have to contain, not let them rotate the strike. It’s pressure on the batsmen too, chasing 300 and they know that five fielders are inside – that gives a chance to bowlers if you bowl a good line and length. I know how a batsman plays in that situation because when I’m batting, my mind also works like that. So I have some experience of bowling in those situations,” concluded Raina.