Team India are on a roll with two back to back comprehensive victories against two of the strongest teams in their group. After beating Pakistan in Adelaide, on Sunday, India put up yet another dominant performance to hand South Africa a 130-run defeat. Yet again India looked in total control of the game with the batsmen getting the runs, the bowlers picking up wickets complemented by some impressive fielding.
Captain MS Dhoni was content with his side’s display and reserved some special praise for his batsmen. “We did really well with the batting,” Dhoni said. “We tried a few different things in our innings. We actually went for the big shots in the last few overs of the match even as the wickets were falling. We wanted to see how much we can push even after Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja got out. Getting 300 runs was fantastic and was a par score on this wicket.”
The Indian captain was also all praise for centurion Shikhar Dhawan who finally looked in form after a dry patch over the past few months. “I think he batted really well. He has been putting a lot of effort in the nets. I feel form is something that nobody sees and it is just about the initial 15-20 minutes an innings. Today he was really batting, the way he bats. He rotated the strike well and played the big shots when required.
“He made sure that once he got his hundred he was still there at the crease. It’s important if you get a hundred and you are able to score 130 or 140 runs since you get the team those extra 20 or 25 runs. It was good on his part to make sure he stayed until the end. I think in these conditions once you are set you have to make the most of it.”
If Shikhar Dhawan bludgeoned his way to a century, it was Ajinkya Rahane who played the perfect supporting act scoring at will. Rahane, the batsman and the fielder, impressed the Indian captain. “There has been improvement, irrespective of the format, in T20, ODIs or as a Test player,” Dhoni said of Rahane.
“He is definitely one of the individuals who is not really rigid. He is quite open to ideas and once he tries it out, he gives you a good response as to whether it’s working or not working for him. Also he is one of the fittest guys. You see him on the field, he’s very quick, and his intensity actually never drops right from the first over until the 90th over if you see a Test match which to me what fitness is all about. What has been really good is him batting to his strength – timing, and exploiting the field to a lot of extent. It is really good to see him get the kind of runs, and how he is getting it is really important.”
Not just the batsmen, Dhoni was mighty impressed with the way his bowlers hit the right lengths and executed their plans. “It was a fantastic performance. Maybe the wicket also helped us a bit, but still, hitting the right areas, the length, according to the wicket, how the wicket is behaving, is crucial, and I felt that was the main aspect where we were really good. They quickly assessed what was the right length to bowl, and they didn’t give too much. They never gave any extra width to the batsmen, and most of their batsmen love that extra width right from the top order. It was important that we didn’t give them that width. Most important thing is you always have plans, but it’s how we execute the plans. In the first 10 overs this was definitely one of our best performances in the recent past.”
India might have had a tough time Down Under in the Test and ODI tri-series, but they come the World Cup, there has been a remarkable turnaround. Keeping it simple was key to success according to Dhoni. “We kept it very simple right from the start. We knew it would be slightly tough for us to turn it on, the reason being we would be here for close to four months. We knew with the World Cup round the corner we had to make sure people with niggles didn’t come into the World Cup.
“The 10 day break also helped us to a lot of extent, and once we turned back after that we made sure that we used the practice in the best possible manner. A lot of credit needs to be given to the individual support staff and the team because they kept the dressing room atmosphere good when we were not doing well.”
By: BCCI
