Lauderhill (US): Limited over captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni believes that India’s Test side led by Virat Kohli can regain their top ranking in longest format by the end of the home season in which they play 13 Tests against New Zealand, England, Australia and Bangladesh.
Dhoni feels the team is shaping up well under skipper Kohli and the fact that all the Indian fast bowlers are fit and doing well will hold the team in good stead in the upcoming Test matches.
“I think the Indian Test team is shaping up well. It seemed we were more settled in T20 and ODI but now our team had a good batting experience. If you notice, for the last two-and-a-half years, we had the same batting unit, barring one or two changes. So you learn a lot. Test remains the ultimate format,” Dhoni told reporters after the 2nd T20I was washed out on Sunday.
“On top of it, one plus point is that all our fast bowlers are fit now and the way they are bowling. We have 10 proper fast bowlers and it’s an asset. Now we will be playing a lot of matches, so we can rotate our fast bowlers if we want to,” he observed.
Dhoni is happy that talent is now getting transformed into performance. “As far as performance is concerned, the talent and experience of the team has started to get reflected in the performance and in the times to come, this season we will be playing 13 Tests and I think by the end of it if everything goes well, touchwood, we will be the number one team in the world and the gap between the first and second team will be substantial,” he added.
Coming back to the short T20 series, Dhoni said while the pitch remained same where the bowlers were belted for 245 in the first game, it was the addition of an extra spinner in Amit Mishra, which paid off as the World T20 champions were bowled out for less than 150.
“I don’t think the wicket changed a lot. It is the same as the last wicket. It is the exposure that they had in the last game, it gave them the ability to go back and think about their own game plan and often when there is no break between two matches, it actually helps the bowlers to quickly go back and plan,” said the 35-year-old from Ranchi.
“It is the execution that matters and I think it was great. Addition of a spinner also paid off well. Mishra bowled really well. I felt it was the whole bowling unit who could restrict them to 140, it was a brilliant effort,” he added. “This is one place where we can come back and play lot of cricket, maybe a triangular or a four-nation ODI or T20 series. It will be better to play T20s to start off. The venue looks good,” he said.
“It will also let us spend more time in the US (unlike this time) when we played back-to-back games. It will easily fit into our schedule as well because we don’t play many games this time of year at home,” Dhoni added.
“Yes, it will be a bit cramped for international cricketers, but I don’t think modern cricketers mind it. Also, the money making ability of this place, the spectators will come, the time suits broadcasters. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. It’s a good venue to continue cricket.”
West Indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite said his team would love to comeback to the US and play again.
“Most definitely we would love to come here back again. Fantastic field, fantastic wicket. We had discussions if we can come here again,” Brathwaite said.
