Press Trust of India
Mirpur, Feb 28: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels that the 22-yard-strip at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium is certainly ‘not ideal’ for the batsmen to try and practice attacking shots keeping the ICC World T20 in mind.
“We thought it will be very good practice for T20 World Cup but in terms of hitting maybe it is not. But when it comes to reading the game and respecting conditions, it is good for us,” Dhoni said after India defeated Pakistan in a low-scoring game where 15 wickets fell in 33 overs.
“Whether it is good (advertisement) for T20 cricket is difficult one to answer with so much of bounce and movement. In games over here, it has been very difficult to come out and play big shots. In one game, we scored 170 but it seemed like we would score 140, because of the firepower in our batting and few good overs, we managed, to reach 170. Otherwise all other games have been low-scoring ones, which is not good,” Dhoni was frank in his assessment.
Dhoni also agreed that scores like 80’s and 100’s are not what people come to see in a Twenty20 game. “You know people love T20 for the sixes and the fours and at the same time you don’t want 80’s and 100’s to be scored. Low scoring should be 130-135 and high scoring games could be anything between 200 and 240. But in a way it is good for us as we are a side that plays aggressive cricket.
“In a way it pushes us to respect the conditions. In the coming games, our openers will not go with a set mindset like what happened in Australia. We knew the wickets were so good that we knew even if there is a bit of movement, you can play on the merit of the ball or the bounce which is not case over here,” he said.
He expressed happiness that Virat Kohli has time and again shouldered extra responsibility in pressure situations but refused to draw comparisons about whether the Delhi batsman was the best India has ever produced in crisis situations.
“Why it is always that we have to come to comparisons. Others also have performed and I don’t believe in comparing individuals. I have captained for more than five years and I can’t recall amount of pressure each individual takes. Kohli has been very consistent for us and ready to take extra responsibility,” Dhoni said.
Dhoni also praised Yuvraj’s Singh gritty innings last night and feels more than amount of runs scored, the number of balls faced was important.
