“The youngsters who have gone for practice for the last three days would have certainly got a taste of seam bowling because the wickets were very damp and there was lush green grass on the wicket,” he snapped. “The players who went for practice were not really happy with the kind of wicket that was provided.”
Then, calming down a bit, he went on, “More than trying to change the basics, it is about adapting the mental side -- seeing what is coming and trying to adapt to the conditions and the situation. It is more about that than teaching someone how to play. Whoever is part of the national side is talented enough to deal with any kind of condition or situation. It is just the mental side that we need to train a bit.”
Throwing his weight behind Ravindra Jadeja, somewhat of a misfit at number seven, Dhoni remarked, “One thing that he was doing really well for us was he was bowling well. At times, it looked as if we were playing with five specialist bowlers, Jadeja was doing the part of the fifth specialist bowler and contributing a bit with the bat. If he is not doing that well with the ball, we can look at having one more specialist batsman. But I think Jadeja can do the job for us. He’s got a few tough games since the T20 World Cup. I am hoping he comes back to form, it is always good to have five bowlers considering the majority of his performances have come with the ball.”
Team morale was still high despite the 200-run loss to New Zealand, Dhoni added. “The spirit is the same. We had a few days off and a couple of days of practice. I don’t think the spirit has been affected that much. It was a disappointing loss, hopefully we will turn up well prepared.for the challenges.”
‘Hope CWG, WC bring goodwill’
It is a great day for us. It is the 64th Independence Day. And being from the sports community two major events are coming up for us in the next one year starting from now. One is the Commonwealth Games and the other cricket World Cup. Hopefully we will do well over there and we will earn plenty of goodwill for our country.
