Keep up never-say-die attitude for tri-series: Gavaskar
India's impressive fielding performance in the second Twenty20 International in Melbourne came in for praise from former captain Sunil Gavaskar, who said the visitors' should carry the never-say-die attitude in the ODI triangular-series starting on Sunday.
Gavaskar said India had not won too many matches on the back of impressive fielding performance and today's eight-wicket victory against Australia was one of them.
"I was thinking today's match would also go like the first T20 and a repeat of the England tour where we could not win a single match. But it was a very good turnaround due to excellent fielding," Gavaskar said.
"India has not won too many matches on the back of fielding. I can remember the win at Sharjah, in Perth in 1991 against the West Indies and in the 1983 World Cup when Kapil Dev took a great catch," he said.
"The energy level and the body language of the players were different from the first T20 and it should be like that. The effort level has to be high. The winning feeling is hard to go by and they should continue the fighting spirit and the never-say-die attitude in the tri-series," he added.
Till this win captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was criticised for his unimaginative captaincy and field placings but Gavaskar said he was spotless in his tactics today.
"I think the field placement was tremendous. For instance, positioning Ravindra Jadeja at backward point was a good thinking on part of Dhoni. Then don't forget the catch taken by Gautam Gambhir (to remove David Warner), it was superb. The field placings, putting the right fielder at the right positions was the best today," Gavaskar told NDTV.
Gavaskar supported Dhoni's self promotion to number four in India's runs chase today but said such a move should depend on match situations.
"Dhoni has to see the situation and promote himself according to situation. Rohit Sharma has not played too many matches and since India were chasing it was OK if Dhoni promotes himself. But if India bat first Rohit should come ahead of Dhoni," he said.
Asked about the Indian Premier League auction in Bangalore tomorrow, Gavaskar said, "I think the franchises would look for foreign players who would be available for at least three-fourth of the duration of the tournament.
"11 foreigners in a team and four playing in a match is right because it's Indian tournament," he said.
He described Royal Challengers Bangalore roping in explosive West Indian batsman Chris Gayle last year as "smart buy".
"It was a smart buy. Gayle turned it around for RCB. Before he joined, the team was struggling. Besides his explosive batting, he bowls off-spin very cannily."
