Sunday noon at the Adelaide Oval might have belonged to centurion and hero of the day – Virat Kohli, but a look at the scorecard will tell you what beautiful support roles Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina had played in the main act. If it was a patient Dhawan playing out the initial stages and helping the team create a base for a big score, it was Raina’s controlled flair in the middle that gave India the much needed impetus after Dhawan’s dismissal.
Raina walked into bat at No.4; a position that he is not really used to and got close to 20 overs to bat in the game. He got the time to settle, took calculated risks and then began to play his natural game – a role that was assigned to him today by the team management, and he played it to perfection. For the initial stages of his game you got a feeling that he had spent a lot of time on the field without scoring runs but on the contrary he was scoring at close to run-a-ball. That was the beauty of Raina’s innings –working the ones and twos and accelerating when the opportunity was there.
It is a role that the left-hander is relishing at the moment so much so that he goes on to say he wants to do what Yuvraj Singh did in the 2011 World Cup. From the nervousness & excitement before a marquee clash to the pep talks and interactions with MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina says it all in an exclusive post match chat with bcci.tv.
First match of the World Cup, first win of the tournament and that too against Pakistan. You couldn’t have asked for a better start to the World Cup, could you?
Yes. Games against Pakistan are always pressure games. It is a different feeling to play against Pakistan. This is my second World Cup and the second World Cup game against Pakistan. We won it in 2011 and now I have played against them in 2015 and won it again. I hope we maintain this record against them. We have got the start that we were looking for this World Cup. I hope we do well in the coming matches.
What does this win mean to the team? What was the morale of the team going into this game?
We have not had the best of times in Australia over the last three months but we showed a lot of intensity in the warm-up games. We had a very good meeting with MS Dhoni where he spoke to each and every player of the team about their roles and responsibilities in the tournament. It was a masterstroke by the captain to walk out to each player and make them understand their roles. It was followed by the rest of the management giving us pointers about the game and it was a good touch added to our daily regime.
How confident were you personally walking out to bat today?
I have to accept I was nervous in the morning before the match. But before walking out to bat I had in the back of the mind that I had scored an unbeaten 36 in the last WC game against Pakistan in Mohali. I was confident about my game since I had played Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan and Shahid Afridi before in India. I had done well in the previous practice game against Afghanistan and it was about taking that momentum into this game.
When did you know you would be batting at No.4 today and how did you adapt yourself to that role of batting at the top of the order?
Dhoni had asked me to pad up and be ready. The moment Shikhar Dhawan got out he called out for me to bat. I understood that today, I had to play myself in and be positive after the first 15-20 balls. Virat and I had a lot of chat regarding spending as much time as possible in the middle and rotate the strike frequently. Running between the wickets is going to be crucial this World Cup since the grounds are bigger. You need to work the spinners into the gaps and look for scoring at a good rate. Also, it really helps having a good runner at the end. We weren’t getting the boundaries frequently, but because of the strike rotation, we managed to get 5 to 6 runs every over.
I wanted to get my eye in in the beginning of the innings and then go for my shots. The boundaries are bigger but I backed myself to clear them whenever I tried to hit them. I know when I connect the ball it does travel a long way. I was playing a very dominating game today and the ball was hitting well on my bat. I had worked hard on my batting in the practice sessions and am glad I played a crucial innings with Virat Kohli. I am feeling good about my batting and only hope that my good run continues for the rest of the tournament.
You spoke about working on your batting and we observed mini stools being used during the practice sessions. Was that to counter the height of Mohammad Irfan’s bounce?
Yes. We wanted to get used to the height of Mohammad Irfan and the bounce of Sohail Khan. We had one tall bowler in Ishant Sharma and normally we would face deliveries from his height. With Ishant injured and back home, we didn’t have anyone else to bowl at us from a greater height. Our team management has been doing that over the practice sessions so that we were well prepared to counter bounce ahead of the Pakistan game. When Irfan bowled at me I was confident of playing him. Also, he got a couple of warnings for stepping on the danger zone. It worked in my favour. He had to change his angle and bowl round the wicket to me and I could score more freely in the zones that I wanted to.
Just 25 runs scored in the second powerplay. You think the team could have scored a lot more?
You have to understand that the powerplay is not a lottery wherein you can go about and play your shots. You have to be sensible. Yes, our think-tank is looking to get 35-40 runs in the power play but at the same time not we have to be wary that we do not lose any wickets in that period of play. If we bank on the powerplays then we will get big scores in the World Cup. Today, I waited for the bad deliveries and scored off them. I will look to be dominant when required and at the same time play sensible cricket by rotating the strike and complement the partner at the other end. I love to play straight and have an array of scoring options. There will be phases when you are not scoring against particular bowlers and you need to play sensible at that time.
You also need to follow your instincts which I have learnt from Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni. I have always batted lower down the order and in the previous World cup when I didn’t play the bulk of the matches; I observed Yuvi and saw how he used to finish games for the side. I want to play Yuvraj Singh’s role in this World Cup. I want to field, bowl and bat well.
You speak about batting partnerships, how important are bowling and fielding partnerships?
It is important. If you see when we were bowling, Mohammad Shami gave us a good start with the Younus Khan. Shami bowled a good bouncer to Younus who is one of their most experienced players. He is someone who rotates the strike well against the spinners and it was important to get him early.
Umesh later found his mojo and banked on the momentum created by Shami. Umesh is fast and quickly got us two wickets. Jadeja held on to a brilliant catch and later I held on to one in the same over. After that we kept up the intensity throughout the game. Our fielders maintained the momentum and kept the pressure on their batsmen by stopping the singles, cutting the twos into ones. It is a cycle that works on the field.
Bowlers and fielders working in tandem and getting you the results. If you create an atmosphere where you are fielding well then it creates pressure on the batsmen. Dhoni led brilliantly today. He rotated the bowlers well. R Ashwin bowled really well in the middle overs and the rest of the bowling attack complemented each other well. We are hoping we continue the good work and maintain the same intensity throughout the tournament.
By: BCCI
