What's Up? Dhoni keen to stay at crease longer

'My responsibility as a batsman is to stay till the end and so far in this series, I have not been able to do that'

 
Auckland: Even England’s Mike Brearley, one of the greatest captains the game has ever seen, would’ve struggled to understand Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s ‘art of captaincy’. The Indian skipper has a knack for delving deep into those details which any other cricketer will always struggle to explain.

The ‘process’, a word which Dhoni uses so many times during his media interactions, is never ending.

After losing the Hamilton ODI, this was skipper’s take on Indians’ death bowling: “We cannot give easy boundaries off something like a wide ball or something on the pads that goes through short fine for a boundary."

"Stuff like that really adds on (the pressure). Especially, if you don’t concede boundaries on the first and the sixth ball of the over, it really helps. That is one area where we are conceding quite a few runs. Either we are not starting well or we are not finishing that particular over well.”

Too many boundaries off the first and the last ball of the over. This is one data which many cricket statisticians may also have overlooked.

But not captain Dhoni.

On Saturday, after the thrilling tie at Eden Park, Dhoni had some more wisdom ready when Mail Today asked him about his fixation for fielding after winning the toss.

“Would it be wise to ask the batsmen to bat first and give the bowlers something to defend? In a way you may say that we are taking some pressure off batsmen by doing that. But other way is that we might ask the batsmen to give 325-340 runs to bowlers every time they bat.” Dhoninomics at its very best.




Not a man who shows his emotions easily, Dhoni knows that the tie in Auckland was snatched from the jaws of defeat and gives India a chance to level the series.

“I think we would have loved to win the game here. But at the same time, most important thing is being alive in the series and that’s what this tie does to us. We should have lost the game from 140 odd down for 5/6. The kind of partnership we got, we should have won from there but it didn’t go our way.”

From middle order to middle overs, Dhoni does not duck any delivery bowled at him.

“In the middle overs, we didn’t get the partnerships those were really needed. My responsibility as a batsman is to stay till the end and so far in this series, I have not been able to do that. I get out in between 40-43rd overs. It puts pressure on batsmen after me. Will be good if I can stay till 48-49th over,” he says.

So, is he happy to see Ravindra Jadeja finally back amongst runs? “We are certainly hoping that he develops as a batsman. Hopefully he gets more confidence out of this. He has been very consistent in bowling and hopefully will contribute more in terms of batting. This innings should help him.” Talk about Dhoni backing his players to the hilt. The ‘process’ is ongoing and endless.

Wow! Will Dhoni continue to back under-performing Raina?

The left-hander with the well-known indisposition against bouncers last scored a fifty in August. Despite his troubles, Raina has been given a Grade A contract by the BCCI. Has Suresh Raina been given too long a rope? That is an issue which has been troubling Team India for too long now and yet been ignored by one and all, at least in the team management. The last time Raina crossed 50 was against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on August 1. In the 16 matches since, he has scored 291 runs with 39 being his highest score. Before Saturday, Ravichandran Ashwin, who like Raina has a Grade-A BCCI contract, took an ODI wicket on December 8. But, Raina, with the experience of 189 ODIs behind him, has not been able to find his long lost form till now. Ambati Rayudu can spend a few more tours cooling his heels in the dressing room, Stuart Binny can learn how to mix glucose perfectly in water and deliver it to teammates during the drinks break, and Yuvraj Singh can continue conducting coaching clinics for his Punjab teammates back home. Courtesy skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Raina will continue to be part of the Indian XI and get a fifty one day. Dhoni can drop Ishant Sharma for a poor show but Raina, even if has soft tissue damage in his elbow from an injury the previous day, will play. For all those who vouch for his all-round skills, four wickets is all Raina has to show since August. But it wasn’t so bad for Raina earlier. After Dhoni and Virat Kohli, the 27-year-old left-hander from Ghaziabad has been the third-most prolific Indian batsmen in successful chases with one hundred and 13 half-centuries to his credit, putting him ahead of the likes of Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly. "He (Raina) is someone who plays aggressive cricket but it is important to control your mind as to what are the areas you want to hit. If it is not there, what are the options you have got? It is not like you want to try and hit something (and) even if is not there you go for a big shot. Hopefully, he will gather plenty of confidence after this innings and carry on longer,” Dhoni had said after Raina’s 35-run knock in the second ODI in Hamilton. The left-hander followed it up with a 31 in the tied game at Auckland. Nobody really knows if time is indeed running out for Raina. If he’s managed 16 matches without a half-century, he might as well get many more chances with Dhoni backing him to the hilt. The wait for a half-century will get over one day, if not in New Zealand, then certainly on the flat tracks in Bangladesh in the Asia Cup. But, wasn’t this tour an exercise to test players for the 2015 World Cup? If yes, then will Raina, whose struggles against short bowling is common knowledge, be part of that squad? Let’s leave that for Dhoni to answer.