Dhoni proved that nobody really can know what was going on in his mind. (Source: AP)
“First of all you don’t really know what was going on in my mind and so don’t speculate as to what was going on in my mind, just leave that for me.”
These were MS Dhoni’s words from the last Test at the Gabba ground in Brisbane when asked about whether he had persisted with the bouncer strategy as a repeat of Lord’s.
On Tuesday, Dhoni proved that nobody really can know what was going on in his mind by giving absolutely nothing away about his imminent Test retirement and instead talking about everything — from Australia’s declaration to a Doberman’s tail.
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According to me how the gradation goes is, you look for a win, then a draw and then you fight it out so that you don’t lose the Test match. I think the second innings bowling was very good for us but somehow we find ourselves in some kind of trouble and this match also we gave them a lead of 60-plus runs.
We shouldn’t really judge him on just one performance, he is someone who really looks very compact and good. And this is the new era of cricketers where they want to play the shots to get out of pressure situations. It can be taken as a positive and also he is someone who loves playing his strokes. So overall I was quite happy with his approach, it didn’t pay him in this game but he is definitely someone for us to look ahead in the future.
On loose shots costing India
There were a few loose shots but at the end of day nobody wants to get out. It all goes into the bank as a learning curve. I don’t want more of these games but the batsmen, the more they play these games, they will have these situations to deal with where they won’t really put pressure on themselves. If a situation arises like this they will bat so that they won’t put pressure on numbers 5, 6, 7.
Don’t cross the boundary, play it in good spirit. Yes, you represent your country, and it is important to play tough, but also important that one of the individuals back off. If sledging goes on for five days there will be harsher words spoken.
On India’s longish tail
Now even PETA has said that you can’t cosmetically remove the tail. Hopefully if we can find an allrounder the tail problem will be resolved. But the tail problem is really a big problem.
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