Come up with something new, Dhoni tells Aussies

MS Dhoni hit back at Australians, who have threatened to test some of the Indian batsmen with short deliveries, asking his Friday’s Super Eight rivals to come up with something new

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On Tuesday, Aussie paceman Pat Cummins had said that he would ruffle a few feathers in the Indian camp but Dhoni remained unperturbed. “From the last five years whenever we have had press conferences we say some new things but they have been talking the same thing, there’s nothing new from their side to say. We are concentrating where we have to work upon and we keep doing the same thing,” he replied here on Thursday.

Australian skipper George Bailey stressed on the need to maintain an element of surprise.

“If they know what is coming against them then it loses its effect so we got to balance it,” said Bailey when asked what he had to say about Dhoni’s remarks.

“Certainly when the opportunity strikes and when change is required and then, in Twenty20, we cannot let the batsmen to settle.You got to have change-ups; if you are a yorker bowler then the batsmen get used to you, so you got to have changes up your sleeve. But yes certainly we play a few fast bowlers and in that repertoire you can expect a few bouncers,” he explained.

Short-pitched stuff

Dhoni, while maintaining that Indian batsmen have improved against short balls, said that no player in the world was comfortable against short-pitched stuff.

“Well if you see the side, it hasn’t changed for quite some time now. Most of the players who are part of the side they have played decent amount of ODIs, T20s and Test cricket which means they have got more exposure and they know what to do.

“But short ball is as much of a trouble to us as it is to anyone else. Each and every batsman we have seen has got out to short ball. It’s just that how quick your bowlers are. If I’m bowling, I won’t rely on the short ball for sure. But if someone is bowling at 140-145, he will definitely look for short-pitched deliveries.”