1) Both ends sealed and nowhere to go.
Dhoni went on to compare Steyn's accuracy and ability to swing the ball both ways to Glenn McGrath. "When McGrath used to bowl around the off-stump it was always difficult to leave the ball, and that's what is happening with Steyn. He was getting the ball to go away and from the same spot he was getting it to go in. You just get a fraction of a second to make up your mind and decide what you're planning to do.
"You may end up playing the ball and you may end up getting caught behind or in the slips, like what happened to Gautam Gambhir, first innings got caught behind, the second innings he got bowled."
Wonder how long / how many overs Dhoni ever faced McGrath... ;)
2) On Permutation & Combination, Decisions, Making Openings & Creating Opportunities, Probability of winning, Developing a stable team/setup, Chance, Resources...
Dhoni has been a fan of the six batsmen, four bowlers combination since he took over the reins of the Indian team and stuck by his guns again. "You can always say if four bowlers can't do the job no good reason your fifth can. Same way, you can say if six batsmen can't do the job how can seven? You can pick the side you want to argue. But usually we play with a 2-2 combination and part-timers.
"South Africa has Jacques Kallis who's a specialist allrounder and they play with a 3-1 combination, so you can say they play with four bowlers and have a perfect all-rounder with them, which luxury we don't have. We have to see what is the best combination," Dhoni said.
3) Now on to one of the most accurate exposition on Shewag:
After Steyn's initial strikes in the first innings, India seemed to be on the road to recovery through Sehwag and Badrinath. Shewag reached a hundred, but threw away his wicket soon after, attempting a big shot, which triggered a collapse. However, Dhoni was unwilling to blame Sehwag for the debacle.
"You can say we lost the game but you can't put the blame on him because that's Sehwag-cricket for you and more often than not he'll win more games then he'll lose. There are other ten batsmen who can fit into the space. One and a half years back if he hadn't played that innings against England in Chennai, we would not have been on the winning side. He has that liberty because he is a match-winner," Dhoni said.
"When he is playing aggressive cricket he puts pressure on the bowlers, they have to shift their lines which may not be their strength. It may look like a rash shot, but that's the kind of cricket he plays, and we should leave it to him because he's very successful in the cricket he plays. It's very difficult to imitate that so I will not recommend that. Sehwag is one of a kind, he's a great batsman and I just love the way he plays, and I hope he gets more and more runs."
4) Accepting (for what it is)
"You miss players because of injuries. This was the best available squad at that time. I won't complain about that. We were outplayed in most of the departments, batting you can say, definitely bowling, and also the fielding. Because we were outplayed we are on the losing side. There are plenty of lessons to be learnt," Dhoni said.
Though it's a bit annoying he uses the "lessons to be learnt" paradigm too often, almost like a preach... ;)
Well, that's two more than what i initially thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment