Dhoni ecstatic after becoming most-successful captain to lead India in one day internationals
Under fire till recently, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was overwhelmed with relief on becoming the most successful Indian ODI captain after the win over England here and said the triumph has lifted the gloom that set in due to the Test debacle as India thrashed England by nine wickets to take an invincible 3-0 lead in the five-match series here to compensate for the 1-3 Test series loss.
“When I started leading the team, I got a fantastic team then, and I have got a fantastic side right now,” an ecstatic Dhoni said after the match.
“There will be ups and downs, but thanks to everyone, whoever I have played with. Without their contribution it wouldn’t really have been possible. All the senior players I played with and who played under me, followed by the youngsters. I personally feel we are a very good, a fantastic ODI side. And there will be ups and downs, but what is important is to keep the intent positive. Thanks to all the players.
“We had a tough time in the Test series, but the change of format helps. This format pushes you to be impressive on the field, but at the same time pushes you to back yourself to play your shots. I was very happy with the fast bowlers, especially how they bowled with the new ball. And spinners as well, when they have a bit of help from the wicket, they will always do well,” he added.
Talking pertinently about the series win, Dhoni said India kept on improving with every match especially after the 1-3 drubbing in the Test series against England.
“The good thing is that we have kept improving from the first ODI onwards. That’s definitely a big positive. It was a good toss to win today. The fast bowlers bowled really well initially and gave us those early breakthroughs because of which we were able to put pressure on their middle order.
“Overall we are very happy. Ajinkya Rahane also got a century and we got an opening partnership. So it was a complete game for us,” he said. “In this particular game the openers batted well. But they have to continue doing this in each and every game, or most of the games,” said Dhoni.
“That is when you can say the problem has been sorted. They will find it tough. At the same time if they can get us a good opening partnership, not always in terms of runs, if they play through 8-10 overs and don’t give away wickets scoring even at four to five runs per over, we consider it a very good start because we know we have the batsmen who can make up for the deliveries lost in the first 10 overs.
“As far as this series is concerned, we haven’t really faced slog overs from the opposition. Apart from that, the new-ball bowling has been good, spinners have been fantastic, there were run-outs in the games, brilliant catches, partnerships, so everything else has been covered apart from the slog bowling. That’s one area that will only happen if the opposition has wickets in hand,” Dhoni added.
Dhoni agreed to a query that India were not at all tested in the ODI series. “We were not tested because our fast bowlers bowled well initially in the game. Where they didn’t bowl well, the spinners took the responsibility. In batting, we have kept improving from the first game, which I feel is important. We will only see how much we will be tested. Testing is good, but you don’t always want to be tested. You want to win games easily too, you don’t always want to hang in until the 49th-50th over,” said the Indian skipper.
Not quitting from odi captaincy: Cook
He might be under tremendous pressure after three consecutive losses, but England skipper Alastair Cook has made it clear that he will not step down as ODI captain. “At this precise moment in time, no,” said Cook when asked whether he will relinquish his ODI captaincy.
“I will be the captain of this team in the World Cup if I’m allowed to be. I don’t have a say on selection but I’ve captained for three-and-a-half years with the goal to try to win the World Cup in Australia.
“I know that seems a bit far-fetched at the moment when we’re losing games of cricket but there are a lot of really good players in that change room and if we can improve at the rate we need to improve. We’ve got a chance and that’s what we have to believe in,” he said.
“It was a tough performance to take in, to lose by nine wickets (Birmingham ODI), and we were behind the game very quickly and we never got back into it,” said Cook.
“When you get behind in a series, trying to turn it around especially in the one-dayers when it happens so quickly, is the toughest and most frustrating thing as captain. You know you’ve got to go out there and play with freedom but when you keep losing wickets it’s very hard to do that,” he said.
Cook ruled out that team selection or wrong strategy were the real cause of these defeats and instead pointed out non-performance of his players as the reason.
“We don’t quite know our best eleven at the moment because the results are showing we’re not performing. So when that happens, you always start to doubt and that’s the position we’re in at the moment. We’ve got six months of one-day cricket to try and put that right,” Cook said.