Birmingham: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not unduly worried over the talk about England bowlers’ ability to destroy his team’s top order.
“England is a very good team, especially the bowlers. What we are excited about is the fact our top order have done well, and also the fact they have played some of the best bowlers in world cricket so far in the tournament.
“So I think they are quite well prepared for the English bowlers, it’s just that like in every game you have to apply, also, so we’ll wait and watch.”
Dhoni also reacted sharply to his counterpart Alastair Cook’s comment that they will exploit India’s poor performance in 2011 to win this final.
“I know our performance wasn’t really great as we were hampered by lots of injuries to the players.
“Still, I think our one-day performance was good, not to forget in all the five games I lost all the tosses and it rained in every game. We were supposed to operate with two spinners, and with the wet ball it was very difficult.”
When asked who the No.1 spinner in the team is today as Ravindra Jadeja is fast catching up with Ravichandran Ashwin, Dhoni asked: “Well, can you have two number ones in the same team? Whoever takes more wickets, often people try to say, he’s your first spinner and he’s your second spinner. What is important is to realise they are a bowling unit, and it’s the impact that every individual creates.
“I think it’s very important that they hunt in pairs, and that’s what they have been doing really well so far.
“When Jadeja puts the pressure, Ashwin gets the wicket; when Ashwin puts the pressure, Jadeja gets the wicket. Both of them are really crucial for each other’s success and for the success of the team.”
Dhoni does not give much importance to England’s batsmen non-aggressive approach.
“Whether their approach was right or not, it’s not for me to decide. As a team you want to win. That’s one thing that you desperately want to do.
“And second comes the entertainment aspect where you want to hit sixes and fours. But first and foremost you know you want to win a game, and I think that’s what they have been doing,” he said.
Does Dhoni have plans to push for a bigger total as it is the final?
“It all depends whether we are looking to bat first or bat second. A lot of that depends on the weather and what kind of a wicket it is. But still, as I said, it’s very important to deal with the first 10 overs and then after that once you get a very good platform, then look to capitalise in the middle overs and have wickets in hand for the last 10-15 overs.
“Like we do in each and every game, we don’t go in with a fixed target in mind. We look to get off to a good start, and then every five to seven overs we review as to what a good target can be on that wicket,” he said.
Dhoni hasn’t allowed the weather to bother him too. “As far as the weather is concerned, it has been quite unpredictable, so we’ll wait until tomorrow. We’ll see what the prediction is like.
“The weather has proved the predictions also wrong at times. The last game they said it will be quite bad and we may not even get a 20-over game, and we ended up playing for 50 overs. We’ll prepare ourselves, but we’ll still see the weather forecast right close to the game before it starts,” he said.
