Pulling isn't our natural strength - Dhoni

[Andy]

MS Dhoni has defended his top order after they once again fell apart in the face of a hostile short-pitched attack. The pace of Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson proved too much for India as they slumped to 50 for 7 in their pursuit of a daunting 185, and it was a familiar mode of dismissal that brought their downfall. Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina, the latter coming off the back of his hundred against South Africa, were unsettled by the short ball and fell to limp pulls. It was only Rohit Sharma, who hit out towards the end, that looked comfortable against the sustained pace that Australia were able to throw at them. If India have realistic ambitions of winning this tournament they are going to have to sharpen up their reflexes, for after this performance they will have plenty more deliveries heading for the ribcage with another Super Eight match and the final to be held in Barbados. The hole left by Virender Sehwag's absence has not been adequately filled. "You try to fight fire with fire and it doesn't always work and this was an example of that," Dhoni said. "If somebody bowls 150kph short stuff then you have to be really good at pulling which isn't our natural strength. Most players from India are very good at cutting the ball, but only a few are good pullers against the new ball. "Maybe we could have played through the first few overs because we saw as the ball got a bit older it didn't come on as quickly," he added. "But you have to go for runs and it's easy after the game to say this is what should have been done. When you are chasing 180-odd runs the first five or six overs are very important otherwise the rate goes above 10 an over." Dhoni, and each India captain before him, has had to answer questions on his side's ability to face short-pitched bowling but the concern will be that this wasn't a lightning fast surface, just one that offered encouragement to a well-directed attack. At last year's World Twenty20 in England, India succumbed in similar fashion with Super Eight defeats against West Indies and the hosts when they were bombed out on a lively Lord's surface. "It's the same stuff that Indians have been facing for the last 10, 15, 20 years and some of the best [batsmen] in the world have come from India so there's no reason why they can't do it," Dhoni said. "During the first T20 World Cup we played in Durban on one of the fastest tracks you'll see and we beat England, South Africa and Australia." However, Dhoni felt that it was the right approach for the batsmen to go for their shots from the start, despite having watched Shane Watson and David Warner assess conditions before opening up during their 104-run stand. "It was a big score but it is a fast-scoring ground so I didn't think we were under too much pressure because of that," he said. "We needed a good start and you have to keep on going but a few shots when straight to the fielder. The aggressive approach has worked for us in the past but you just have to be a bit careful." India now play two more Super Eights matches and the first of them is back at the Kensington Oval against West Indies. If the hosts were watching this performance, they are likely to be winding up Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach. http://www.cricinfo.com/world-twenty20-2010/content/current/story/458879.html

[Andy]

I still believe had we not needed to chase down such a big total we could have seen off Tait and Nannes. Its not easy scoring 10 an over against such hostile bowling attact. Before others start whinng i would like to know who could have chased down 10 an over against such an attack.

"During the first T20 World Cup we played in Durban on one of the fastest tracks you'll see and we beat England, South Africa and Australia."

Yes that time we had Utthappa who pulled and Hooked shortballs sucessfully into the stands.

[Pagan]

No Sh!t Mahendra Sherlock Dhoni!

[Riley's Girl]

No Sh!t Mahendra Sherlock Dhoni!

:whack: No bashing the Mahi when his team is down! :whack:

[Roshanrocks]

"It's the same stuff that Indians have been facing for the last 10, 15, 20 years and some of the best [batsmen] in the world have come from India so there's no reason why they can't do it,"

sorry sir... but the best indian batsmen in the world are now relaxing in India...

[rkt.india]

sorry sir... but the best indian batsmen in the world are now relaxing in India...

bt this best batsman didnt play in 2007 T20 WC though n they did that time so why not now..he means tht

[Roshanrocks]

bt this best batsman didnt play in 2007 T20 WC though n they did that time so why not now..he means tht

its not our batsmen's fault that there are no bouncy pitches not fast bowlers in india to practise against :dontknow: and in the 2007 world cup our team played T20 for the first time, so other teams didnt know or rather didnt try to expose the weakness against the short ball.... our batsmen are going to face more of the same against WIndies.... i am sure they will be prepared for that...as the boundaries are supposed to be smaller

[rkt.india]

its not our batsmen's fault that there are no bouncy pitches not fast bowlers in india to practise against :dontknow: and in the 2007 world cup our team played T20 for the first time, so other teams didnt know or rather didnt try to expose the weakness against the short ball.... our batsmen are going to face more of the same against WIndies.... i am sure they will be prepared for that...as the boundaries are supposed to be smaller

Other teams also played T20 first time...its same for all teams....aisa bhi nahi tha ke usse pehle INternational cricket nahi tha...every team had played against oppositions and before tht too Indian team was used to be targeted by short balls...the problem now is mental...last night they jst tried to smack every ball out of the ground...if opposition bowling is good thn u need to keep ur wickets intact in the beginning rather playing ambitious shots which were not possible againtys Nannes and Tait with hard new ball...except Nannes no bowler was that effective there..they were jst thoughtless..with this approach thy cant win

[Karan114]

if opposition bowling is good thn u need to keep ur wickets intact in the beginning rather playing ambitious shots which were not possible againtys Nannes and Tait with hard new ball...except Nannes no bowler was that effective there..they were jst thoughtless..with this approach thy cant win

True, and in particular, if we had kept wickets in hand then we could have gone after Steven Smith properly.

[saneindian]

The key difference between 2007 and the last WC and this one has been the strategy. In 2007, we went in each match with a plan, Viru and GG weren't going ballistic from ball one. Gambhir was the one who was holding one end together while Sehwag used to take a good look at tbe bowling before playing his shots. Barring thefirst match, we had good starts. Firt 10 overs average was around 65-70 runs for not more than 2 wickets, and then in the last 7-8 overs, an all out assault to get to 155-160.Somehow that planning and strategy has been lacking in most t20s we have played since that t20 WC of 2007.

[Andy]

its not our batsmen's fault that there are no bouncy pitches not fast bowlers in india to practise against :dontknow: and in the 2007 world cup our team played T20 for the first time, so other teams didnt know or rather didnt try to expose the weakness against the short ball.... our batsmen are going to face more of the same against WIndies.... i am sure they will be prepared for that...as the boundaries are supposed to be smaller

I disagree. I have watched the highlights of all the matches involving India in that WC. Bouncers were hurled at our batsmen. But Players like Utthappa, Dhoni and Rohit handled them well. Its not that Windies pitches are more faster. If you ask a batsman he will prefer pitches in Windies than pitches in South Africa.

[Andy]

The key difference between 2007 and the last WC and this one has been the strategy. In 2007, we went in each match with a plan, Viru and GG weren't going ballistic from ball one. Gambhir was the one who was holding one end together while Sehwag used to take a good look at tbe bowling before playing his shots. Barring thefirst match, we had good starts. Firt 10 overs average was around 65-70 runs for not more than 2 wickets, and then in the last 7-8 overs, an all out assault to get to 155-160.Somehow that planning and strategy has been lacking in most t20s we have played since that t20 WC of 2007.

Exatcly. But we don have openers to exucute that plan now. Vijay cant play similar strokes as Sehwag does against Raw pace.

[Nova]

No Sh!t Mahendra Sherlock Dhoni!

:haha:

[Roshanrocks]

I disagree. I have watched the highlights of all the matches involving India in that WC. Bouncers were hurled at our batsmen. But Players like Utthappa, Dhoni and Rohit handled them well. Its not that Windies pitches are more faster. If you ask a batsman he will prefer pitches in Windies than pitches in South Africa.

And i disagree.. in 2007 world cup "INDIAN BATSMEN" did not know that the short ball was their weakness" :cantstop: so during that world they played short balls well ((warning : this is a pj))

[Andy]

And i disagree.. in 2007 world cup "INDIAN BATSMEN" did not know that the short ball was their weakness" :cantstop: so during that world they played short balls well ((warning : this is a pj))

:haha::haha:

[vvvslaxman]

Are they going to recall Rahul Dravid for the next ODI series like last time :cantstop:

[Sachinism]

I disagree. I have watched the highlights of all the matches involving India in that WC. Bouncers were hurled at our batsmen. But Players like Utthappa, Dhoni and Rohit handled them well. Its not that Windies pitches are more faster. If you ask a batsman he will prefer pitches in Windies than pitches in South Africa.

It depends on conditions, if the pitch is quick with extra bounce, it gets very hard. On certain pitches the ball will sit up and you can smash it. Another thing is being able to anticipate whether its going to be short or full, then you can wait back and be in position quicker

[Andy]

It depends on conditions' date=' if the pitch is quick with extra bounce, it gets very hard. On certain pitches the ball will sit up and you can smash it. Another thing is being able to anticipate whether its going to be short or full, then you can wait back and be in position quicker[/quote'] I still think we can overcome this problem. Rohit showed with his shot selection how to do it. If you see the dismissal of Raina he tried to Hook/pull a ball which was going away from him at 150 km/hr. He should have let it go. If we get our shot selection right it wont be the end of Road for us so early. And obviously we must not chase over 160. So bowlers need to do a decent job too.

[flamy]

Why can't they just cut the ball when it is away from the body :hitler:

[Andy]

Why can't they just cut the ball when it is away from the body :hitler:

Because we tried to Pull them out of the Ground.:giggle: