We‘re doing well but losing: Dhawan
IIndia skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Thursday surprisingly skipped the customary captain's press conference on the eve of the second Test against New Zealand here, possibly to avoid taking questions on the Justice (retd) Mukul Mudgal-committee report, wherein his name figures.
While Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum turned up, opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan came to address the media in Dhoni's absence. Even Dhawan was not allowed to take questions on the spot fixing and the betting scandal in the 2013 Indian Premier league (IPl) and media manager R.N. Baba concluded the conference shortly afterwards.
Dhawan on Thursday said the current Test squad will only get better with time as they gain in experience, and that the New Zealand tour has been another learning curve for them. “We have been doing well as a team, but unfortunately we end up on the losing side. It is a new team, young players who have got only five-six matches under their belt. It takes a bit of time to settle down. The last Test we played, we fought back really nicely and even in the last innings, we batted really well. There are a lot of positives to take from the defeat and it helped in building our confidence,” Dhawan told reporters at the pre-match press conference.
Dhawan exuded confidence that Team India would come back strongly in the Wellington Test to salvage some lost pride on a thoroughly disappointing tour. “It is very sad to lose a match, and especially so close, we lost by just 40 runs. But we took positives from that game. Yes, we were disappointed for a bit, but then we overcame those things. There is always a new day. So, we started working hard again and focussed on the positive things. We are confident of playing good cricket in this Test,” asserted Dhawan.
Meanwhile McCullum said that the hosts will go for the kill. “We allways play to win. That’s how we will look to try and operate in this match as well and hence the selections we have made are trying to play to our strengths and we think the pace and the bounce that we will be able to generate from this wicket will play to our advantage,” McCullum said.
McCullum also said that there will be bounce in the pitch. bounce. “I think the pitch looks a little bit greener than what we had against the West Indies. It looks a bit harder as well. We expect a bit of pace and bounce and bit of sideways movement too,” said the skipper.