Obviously, after scaling three successive wins in the ongoing cricket World Cup, latest being a sensational nine-wicket victory over minnows UAE, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had all the praise for his “complete unit” who have done well. In fact, it is really heartening to note that our boys have given consistent performances in all the spheres of the game.
Dhoni said, “The bowlers have really stepped up and in a team sport it starts to reflect in other departments too. Our batting has been good. We dropped one catch but the fielding has been brilliant. The complete unit has been doing well.”
True to the expectations of the fans, team India easily chased down the target of 103 in just 18.5 overs against United Arab Emirates.
Dhoni further added, “It is not in case of a single match, we are doing for three matches, one after another. We have to continue with the good effort.”
Dhoni especially appreciated the bowlers for picking wickets in the middle overs which proved to be one of the reasons for India’s brilliant run so far in the tournament. He narrated, “When we were losing quite a few games outside the subcontinent, it was an area of concern that we were not getting wickets in the middle overs. Now we are getting wickets with the new ball and the spinners are able to put more pressure on the batsmen in the middle overs”.
Describing the analogy of Team India, Dhoni said, “We have had quite a few plans and it’s important in these conditions that you execute them, not give opportunities to score freely.”
Commenting on the performance of pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/19), who bowled five overs in his first match after recovering from an injury, Dhoni said, “He looked good. First five overs he bowled he was looking sharper than he did when he came back from the injury and played the Test match. If he plays a few more games, we can see how he can bowl in the death overs also.”
The man-of-the-match, left arm spinner R Ashwin attained his career-best effort of 4/25. He disclosed the fact that he knew he had not got four wickets before Saturday’s match.
He said, “I bowl at such phases of the game, it’s more of cutting the runs out, it can get a little difficult, but (the lack of a four wicket haul) was playing on my mind after the first five overs. When it comes to this format, I’m pretty much unselfish, it doesn’t matter if I get the numbers or not as long as I put in the effort required. My wrist is getting into a good position, and that helps with the arm ball, the breeze helped as well. It was good to play the big teams.”
Let us hope India will continue their good run.