On the eve of a new-look Team India’s departure for the tour of Zimbabwe, India’s limited-over captain said that his greatest driving force was the fact that an worldwide cricketer does not get to play for his country for too many years and he would want to give his best for as long as he could.
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Curiously, though, when it comes to playing in Zimbabwe, Dhoni isn’t the most experienced player in the bunch.
Six games in Zimbabwe (three ODIs and three T20Is) provide the 15 players apart from captain MS Dhoni with the ideal chance to show what they are made of. To achieve that I have to keep myself fit. For a wicketkeeper it is set because the maximum you can keep is 90 overs in a day. “It’s not up to me to decide that”.
Being one of the three specialist spinners in the side, and the only specialist offspinner, Jayant is sure to get some game time, and he said he wanted to ensure he doesn’t try and change his game because of the move up to worldwide cricket. He is one of the five new faces in the side – Yuzvendra Chahal, Jayant Yadav, Faiz Fazal and Karun Nair making up the rest. I think, we’re just excited. “In the past, too, these things are important, and the coaches who have understood better, there has been a difference on the ground”, Dhoni said, adding. You have seen, with the kind of players coming in, English is not a big barrier.
India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni said Tuesday he will remain captain as long as the country’s cricket board sees fit, ahead of a tour of Zimbabwe this month. Also the fact that we don’t play a lot of ODI cricket.
“I have always said IPL is a platform where you identify talent. Though you play with global cricketers, it’s still different as just when you are told you are representing India, there’s a different kind of pressure”.
“I feel, it can be one of the criteria, but it can’t be the only criterion that Hindi-speaking is important”.
Sandeep Patil said while announcing the team that a lot of importance had been given to performances in the domestic tournaments and also the Indian Premier League. This is more of an opportunity for the selectors to test India’s bench strength, and if the team could pick up some pointers from one of the country’s greatest ever captains, it would be much more useful than any 5-0 hammering of Zimbabwe. According to that you have to quickly adjust to the demands of the game and that is a good thing as you can show the adaptability factor there. And nothing wrong in that, it is in the interest of Indian cricket.
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Dhoni will be leading a completely changed squad on this tour, and he insisted that utilizing these new players to the best of their abilities can prove to be a challenge. When you come to play for India, you may not get your favourite slot. Whatever I have seen them bowl.
