A day before the start of the India-South Africa T20 series, MS Dhoni said that he “would love” to bat up the order, but was non-committal about it
ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-20150:43
We are well rested and well prepared – Dhoni
One of the issues that have come up with split captaincy in India has been the team’s aggressive attitude in Tests under Virat Kohli. India’s behaviour in the series that India won in Sri Lanka has came under fire from a few former cricketers, especially when Ishant Sharma’s send-offs cost him a chance to play the first Test against South Africa.The limited-overs captain, MS Dhoni, is known to be a calmer leader whose calm rubs off to the rest of the team. At the press conference on the eve of the start of the Twenty20 series against South Africa, part of a tour named after two of the more peaceful world leaders Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, a question around this new aggression was inevitable.”Aggression here means something different,” Dhoni said. “We say aggression is talking tough or physical aggression but aggression is not about that. Especially Rahul Dravid has spoken about it, aggression is a good forward defence to a very quick fast bowler, that’s an aggressive play, that is something that is very important.”Slowly, if you see, our guys are also learning. How to manage aggression, channelise it. Be aggressive but follow the guidelines, play aggressive cricket but within the guidelines.”Of late, there has also been a lot of talk about whether MS Dhoni should be batting up the order in ODI cricket or not. A day before the start of the India-South Africa T20 series, he admitted that he “would love” to bat up the order, but was typically non-committal about it. India already have plenty of top-order options in the shortest format, he said, and it would all come down to the team’s needs on the day anyway.He similarly did not give much away on the bowling combination, or what he would he look to do at the toss, given how dew could play a big role in Dharamsala. Everything, he indicated, would be decided in due course after careful consideration of what is best for the team.”We would have to see who is best suited to bat at what position,” Dhoni said. “Especially if you talk about the T20s, if you see our team, most of our players are top-order batsmen when it comes to their IPL teams, but when it comes to T20 international cricket they bat at different positions.”For example, Ajinkya Rahane is someone who is batting in the middle order but he opens in the IPL. So all these things we have to see and based on that I’ll decide which position I have to bat. Most of our batsmen they like to bat up the order but somebody has to bat middle and late middle order.”He was not sure as yet where the others would bat, either, he said. He said he saw Suresh Raina as more of a top-order batsman, but pushing him up would mean displacing Virat Kohli, so there was a lot to be weighed up before deciding on the line-up. “If you ask me, Raina is not a finisher, the reason being he bats in the top in the IPL. He is somebody who has batted throughout at No. 3 [for Chennai Super Kings].”But if he bats at No. 3 then Virat will have to bat down the order. So we’ll have to see. When it comes to the talent aspect, all are talented but we’ll have to place them at strategic positions.”If the team did go in with two spinners, Dhoni said, one of them would have to have the ability to chip in with the bat. He said he might even consider playing three spinners, but the dew forecast would of course be a defining factor. “We have four spinners and we have a few part-timers. We have three proper fast bowlers, a seaming allrounder also. So it gives us the luxury of going with the right combination depending on the scenario. We’ll have to see how much dew is there and decide whether three spinners or three fast bowlers.”Also we have to figure out whether we want a legspinner, offspinner or we want a left-arm spinner, if we can experiment with that. Also we have to see the strength of the side, usually if we play with two spinners, one of them has to be a better batsman.”He said he would also keep next year’s World T20 in mind when deciding on whom to play – he said it was important that everyone gets “equal opportunity” so that the team has plenty of options when the World T20 rolls around in March 2016. “Also looking at a slightly larger picture, with the T20 World Cup coming, it’s good to give them exposure and give the guys who have been doing quite well in the IPL a chance at the international level.”It’s a big tournament, so if you top three-four batsmen keep batting and you go to the knockouts and suddenly your lower order is tested you can have problems. So all these matches [leading up to the World T20, it’s good] if you can rotate, you are not too bothered about the result, your top six are in good form, your best bowlers get the match experience.”
