'T20 WC triumph wasn't a flash in the pan'

[DesiChap]

Mumbai: The Indians seem to have taken a liking for the Twenty20 format, as their convincing seven-wicket win over the mighty Australians on Saturday at the Brabourne Stadium only proves that the World Championships success was not a flash in the pan. And India’s manager Lalchand Rajput along with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and vice-captain Yuvraj Singh, was one of the masterminds who hatched the Aussies’ downfall. Rajput, who played in a two Tests and four One-Day Internationals for the country, in an exclusive interview to Cricketnext.com on Monday disclosed how the Aussie seniors – Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds - were targeted by the Indian bowlers. Excerpts from the interview: Cricketnext: Can you tell us more about the planning that went into the Twenty20 triumph on Saturday? Lalchand Rajput: During the team meeting, before the match against the Aussies, Dhoni told the boys to take things easy and enjoy playing the first ever Twenty20 International on the home soil. He (Dhoni) made it clear that there was no point coming under pressure even before taking the field just because we are playing the Aussies. "Never put yourself under pressure instead try and give pressure to the oppositions by picking quick wickets, if we bowled first, or by targeting their best bowlers if we batted first. The idea is to have a positive mind frame irrespective of the outcome of the end results," were the exact words used by Dhoni. Moreover, you can say that we went into the match with a game-plan - that was to target their first four batsmen with some positive bowling and close-in (Inside the circle) fielding so that their batsmen never got a chance to get off to flying starts. We also knew that after Symonds, their batting was a little jaded, despite Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin shining in patches, though their loose link was Brad Hodge, who struggled throughout the series to find form. Cricketnext: What is your take on India’s batting in this particular format? Lalchand Rajput: I think this format is suited to our type of batting, where we don’t have to think of building a long innings. A quick 30 or 40 runs each from the top order will ensure a defendable total. I would also like to point out here that Gautam Gambhir is the most underrated batsman from either side. Probably his 70 plus score in the World Championship final against Pakistan and his 63 runs off 52 balls on Saturday are two of the best innings I have seen on wickets which were not conducive to stroke making. Of course, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni are the others who enjoy batting and have taken to Twenty20 like ducks take to water. The way they targeted Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken clearly shows that they meant business. Cricketnext: Don’t you think that the Indian bowlers’ contribution was as important as the batsmen’s for the win? Lalchand Rajput: Of course, the bowlers have to be complimented and deserve same amount of praise. But for the bowlers’ efforts, we could not have restricted the Aussies to166 for five in the first place. Cricketnext: Do you think Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting got his bowling combination wrong? Lalchand Rajput: I would like to believe so, because Brad Hogg would have been a tricky customer on that wicket as our own spinners proved it. Moreover, we were surprised to see their most successful seamer Mitchell Johnson rested for the Twenty20 match. On the hindsight, I think they wanted to give Ben Hilfenhaus a chance to play on this tour, which is fair enough. Cricketnext: Do you think Twenty20 will be as popular as the ODIs in India? Lalchand Rajput: If you go by the turnout for the first Twenty20 match, you will realize that this format is already here to stay and with the Board of Control for Cricket in India introducing this format (Indian Premier League) with some foreign flavour, I am sure we will be seeing packed houses in the future. Cricketnext: Was this victory very important to the team? Lalchand Rajput: Obviously, this win was very important as we had to prove to the world that our world championship triumph was not a flash in the pan. I think now the message is very clear for those who doubted our ability. http://www.cricketnext.com/news/t20-wc-triumph-wasnt-a-flash-in-the-pan/27563-14-single.html