Indian limited-overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni might have retired from Test cricket, but he has no intention to sign off from the limited-over format (ODI and T20I) in near future.
When Dhoni was asked whether he played his last match on his home soil, Ranchi as Indian captain, Dhoni replied with a smile, “Why not more? Am I unfit? I run well. Why do you want me to retire on some pretext or the other?”
After suffering a stunning defeat in the first T20I, India made a comeback in the 3-match T20I series by securing an emphatic victory over Sri Lanka in the second T20I at JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi where India defeated the visitors by 69 runs and levelled the series 1-1.
The JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi is a very special ground for Indian captain as Ranchi is his home city. Dhoni has unbeaten at this ground in international cricket. Dhoni said on this, “Yes, I know that I had never lost a match on this ground. But that is only a statistics. It is always great to win in front of your own people, but for that you have to play good cricket,”
He added, “You have to also keep in mind that Ranchi is a young venue. Not too many matches have been played here. But what was good was that we scored nearly 200 runs on this wicket. And then they lost early wickets. Overall, we played good cricket,”
Dhoni was impressed by Shikhar Dhawan for his performance in the second T20I. Dhawan was awarded man of the match for his outstanding 51 runs knock. Dhoni told about Dhawan, “Shikhar played the way it should be played. Yes, he played well on the offside and most important, he played proper shots and did not overdo things. The problem with the shortest format of the game is that sometimes one tries to hit too many boundaries. But Shikhar chose his shots well and did not manufacture shots. He played to his strengths… If you have already taken 10 runs from an over, then there is no need to overdo things. He knew and showed how to go about it,”
Dhoni also commented about the promoting Hardik Pandya into the batting order. Dhoni said, “It was an opportunity for him (Pandya) to play a big innings when he came up in the batting order. With the World T20 coming up, I wanted to give a chance to all the youngsters like that… of course, when there is an opportunity. You can’t always experiment with the bowlers but with batting, you can at times.”
When Dhoni was asked about the changing Yuvraj Singh’s batting order on a regular basis, Dhoni said: “In the World Cup, we have two openers and then we have two other batsmen – Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina. These four places have been already sealed. They have extraordinary record overseas. It is difficult to play Yuvi in a higher position… He is the No.5.”
Dhoni added, “Yes, Yuvi is back in the team and we wish to give him more batting. But at the same time, since I have played with Yuvi a lot, I know it is difficult for him to go straight away and start hitting in the 17th or 18th over. He’s like a proper batsman, who can hit. Whenever he batted in the slog, he found it difficult. We’ll see how it goes.”