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Dhoni rules out changing strategy
Indian captain MS Dhoni reiterated his stand of sticking to three pacers even on pitches in New Zealand that will not offer any assistance to his spinners. The world champions lost to New Zealand by 24 runs in the first ODI in Napier but Dhoni ruled out including a fourth seamer in next game.
Electing to field, new ball bowlers Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had started well for India, with the former removing the Kiwi openers early. But Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi blasted quick runs towards the end of the innings as the hosts finished with 292/7 off their 50 overs.
"Two things happen whenever we play with four fast bowlers," he said, in a lighter vein. "One the captain gets banned, and two we lose. They are not good stats and I want to play in the series," Dhoni said, explaining why he was happy to continue with three pacers and two spinners.
"I think the spinners bowled pretty well. They didn't get wickets, but they built pressure which is also important," he argued. Dhoni, however, conceded that their roles will change when they play outside the sub continent. "As the home team will never make pitches that turn, they will have to keep varying pace and length," Dhoni said.
Both spinners bowled nine overs apiece - while R Ashwin went for 52, Ravindra Jadeja conceded 61, though he did get the crucial wicket of Kane Williamson for 71.
Dhoni said he was happy with India's batting but stressed on the need to improve the bowling department. Barring Virat Kohli, who slammed 123 off 111 balls, the first of his hundreds in a chase that went in vain and Dhoni (40) himself to an extent, the others did not pull up a strong enough show.
Suresh Raina, who continues to flop fell once again to the short ball, exposing Indian batsmen's frailties against genuine pace but Dhoni said his batsmen would continue to attack the short ball.
"One of the options is to not to play the shot but our strength has been to play the shot. At times we will get caught because it is a difficult shot to play. But most of our batsmen like to play it since this is our strength.
"Especially overseas, we need to play and master it because you cannot have bowlers bowl short to you always. With two bouncers allowed you cannot leave all; (there are) nearly 80 balls with four fast bowlers out of 50 overs. We can always pick and choose when to play and when not to play.""Dhoni said after the game on Sunday.
Dhoni rules out changing strategy - Cricbuzz
