Well, what else can this be termed as? This appears to be simply the most irrational statement ever heard from the part of Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni. It appears that the team India (after their two consecutive defeats) has totally lost its logic in attempt to justify their poor show even after having a comfortable position in the second test. The whole lot seems to be trapped in a state of utter confusion.
MS Dhoni was not of the opinion that Saturday’s debacle was related to the others. He stated, “Today was quite different compared to some other games. Yes, we have had batting collapses in the recent Test series that we have played. This was something very different. This will be addressed in a different way.”
He proposed that the players should not look at the scoreboard by saying, “Generally how you address this situation is you tell them to bat as normally as possible….to not really look at the scorecard and see what really happened. You play according to the merit of the delivery. If it is there to be hit, you hit. You look to score and be positive. That’s how it is supposed to be. But today was slightly different, as I said.”
Yesterday, Dhoni had said that they faced the defeat in the second test due to an uneasy situation in the Indian dressing room. The reason put forth by MSD was that after Dhawan had shown his inability to continue batting due to an injury, Virat Kohli was not given much time which resulted in a total batting collapse for team India.
Legend Sunil Gavaskar has opined against this plea and said this was a lame excuse! In fact, it seems that the pressure on the team India has mounted too much. But instead of running away, it should be appropriate for the management and particularly for the captain to accept the mistakes committed by them and try to learn from them.
We have seen that when Rohit Sharma – out of sheer frustration – tried to provoke the Australians, team India paid a big price. Also, when the bowlers – out of sheer disappointment – tried to get wickets with the short deliveries, the results prove disastrous. All such developments are pointing towards a situation that team India has lost self esteem and confidence.
Instead, Dhoni should try to gather the team with a positive approach and ask the boys to stick to the basics and avoid overdoing the things.
After all, the hardcore fans of the game throughout this cricket crazy nation know this jolly well that team India does not have a very effective and result oriented bowling attack. No one has ever predicted that team India will be able to defeat Australia on the bouncy pitches in their backyard. Thus, instead of creating chaos and panic, each individual should try to give his best as this seems to be the only choice left. We still hope to see a good fight as even if team India loses, the experience gained will be priceless. Hope the message is given loud and clear.
Image Courtesy: ndtv