“If too many fingers among ten have some injury, then it becomes difficult, especially in these conditions,” noted Dhoni when asked to react to former England stumper Paul Nixon’s remarks that the Jharkhandi had sore fingers. “It is also bowler-specific. I have had more problems with Ishant Sharma than with Sreesanth or Praveen Kumar. I don’t know why it is with Ishant. The ball wobbles and it is difficult to say why it happens with a few bowlers. Generally it swings and swings late. It is a bowler-related thing. Once you come here, a few injuries happen but nothing really to worry about.”
While absolving the Indian Premier League of any blame for the Indian team’s performance, Dhoni felt a rotation policy should be followed to give players enough rest. “I think we will have to look at the rotation policy,” he remarked. “The schedule looks cramped and it is important to give players a rest. Somebody like a Suresh Raina is participating in all the formats for a long time now. It is more to deal with the mental aspect but a bit of good rest helps you to keep those injuries away that might happen if you keep on playing.”
While ruling out Sachin Tendulkar playing Tuesday’s T20 here, Dhoni all but disclosed that Rahul Dravid would be taking the field. “We don’t want to be a batter light and in this format, we need all the top seven batsmen and that means Dravid will most likely get a chance.”
On Gautam Gambhir’s status, Dhoni said it was difficult to say if the opener would be ruled out of the remainder of the series at this moment. “It all depends on what the (eye) specialist has to say,” pointed out Dhoni, adding that the left-hander would be missed should he fail to play the rest of the series.
“Gambhir has done really well for us not only opening the side but also at number three when Sachin and Sehwag open. He is the one opener who also plays spin very well. I think it will be a big loss.”
