Pulling isn't our natural strength - Dhoni

[jhakati]

If a player from any other team gets out to short one' date=' no one cares. As soon as an Indian batsman gets out to that, people starts noticing and overblows at the same time.[/quote'] and dhoni makes it worse by admitting it in public

[satyam1729]

If a player from any other team gets out to short one' date=' no one cares. As soon as an Indian batsman gets out to that, people starts noticing and overblows at the same time.[/quote'] It was a pathetic display on friday to be honest.

[Serani]

Its a natural weakness.

[rkt.india]

SJS sir ji..these players can play pull shots but this is still not their strength and I have nt seen them pulling aur hooking a 150 k bowler much....its not easy to pull or hook a 150 K bowler on a fast bouncy surface and it was the case getting over 9 runs per over whr they had extra added pressure..tht is why i thought bowling first decision was wrong...batting first could have had less pressure and they did not have to hit very ball thn...even ponting, watson, and Smith will have problem pulling Tait and Nannes whn they bowl at that pace...the only batsman in modern who used to hook or pull so easily was Adam Gilchrist, his reflexes and bat speed were exceptional...n Ponting is not tht behind him in pulling bt tht is their strength..thy are born and brought up playing on hard surfaces

[Ranjha]

Whoever posted the pictures of the test batsmen handing the short pitched stuff well is on the wrong track and just making a fool of himself. India struggled to win odis on fast pitches in Australia and other countries even when those great batsmen were present. Yes, they are better equipped than the current bunch though but they are not in the team and wouldn't have made much of a diff. If dravid can play those pull shots, there are other good reasons WHY he is not playing T20 CRICKET. Same for VVS Laxman. Dhoni is talking about the current India batting lineup in the T20s and I strongly agree with him and anyone with common sense can tell, that pulling is not our natural strength....It is not easy to face off 3 90mph bowlers on a fast bouncy pitch chasing A STIFF Target....NO MATTER WHO THE BATSMEN WERE..You can even bring those test batsmen and the result would have been the same or worse. It is all about working on the shortcomings which are not our natural strength and doing our best and using our natural talent overall.

[rkt.india]

@Ranjha....extactly

[achilles]

No wonder his problems against short pitch bowling haunted him through his career. Never admitted that he had a problem against the short ball. Neverthless, admitting that a problem exists is the first and a major step towards finding a solution for that. Hopefully we will see some of the solutions in the next 2 matches.

Admitting that there is a problem is good... BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. You don't need to do it a press conference. Thats just trying to protect and shield your players, despite knowing their obvious weakness. You need to rap your child once a while when he's wrong. He becomes careful in the future and tries to avoid repeating the same mistake. Unfortunately, Dhoni has been a bit of an American parent and asked his boys to go to the room, instead of being a Indian parent aur "ek rapta on the cheek". I'd have liked Dhoni to instead motivate the players to perform well, during the nets and team meetings.

this is a pathetic admission to make for an indian captain in public ganguly led a team of great batsmen who scored all over the world, so is dhoni saying his team is the indian team of the 90s which peed in their pants seeing phaaast bowlers

When was the last time someone came back to cricket the way Dada did, after all the insults, public humiliation, email leaks, etc etc? Until he retired, Dada was playing the best game of his life, against short deliveries too. And only a Dada could've stopped a Bhajji from becoming a truck driver in Canada, instill the faith in him and take him to Australia, coz that moment changed the way India played Australia. He brought in Yuvraj Singh. He backed Zak, Ashu, Ajit and his entire team. So yeah, thats how I look at it.

If a player from any other team gets out to short one' date=' no one cares. As soon as an Indian batsman gets out to that, people starts noticing and overblows at the same time.[/quote'] Coz you only expect the best performance from the best team.

[SJS50]

Amusing . . .

[Aaku]

Go MAHI ! :cheer:

[vvvslaxman]

Dear Gauti, Raina, Vijay et al, This is regarding the first 6 overs we are going to bowl tomorrow. We intend to bowl short at your body at good pace. We will be having a long leg and a short square leg and a short mid wicket. Our 5th or 6th ball will be a full ball. Rest of the balls will be short balls. This is just an FYI. Good luck with your match. cheers Taylor, Roach, Sammy

[achilles]

Dear Gauti, Raina, Vijay et al, This is regarding the first 6 overs we are going to bowl tomorrow. We intend to bowl short at your body at good pace. We will be having a long leg and a short square leg and a short mid wicket. Our 5th or 6th ball will be a full ball. Rest of the balls will be short balls. This is just an FYI. Good luck with your match. cheers Taylor, Roach, Sammy

:hysterical:

[Tridibans_16]

Dear Gauti, Raina, Vijay et al, This is regarding the first 6 overs we are going to bowl tomorrow. We intend to bowl short at your body at good pace. We will be having a long leg and a short square leg and a short mid wicket. Our 5th or 6th ball will be a full ball. Rest of the balls will be short balls. This is just an FYI. Good luck with your match. cheers Taylor, Roach, Sammy

LEGEND:hysterical:

[SJS50]

Harsha Bhogle - before the match against West Indies . . . HQe1RkfR9nE watch this space for what he said after the match to a news channel . . .

[jukkha]

PLEASE BCCI , let the Indian players have their County stints in England. Playing in India domestically isn't going to help Internationally!!

[youngindia]

they need to take a look at their shots. gambhir and raina have a full swing of the bat while pulling and on skiddy surfaces, they get in certain trouble. a short arm jab or something ersatz is needed here.or they need to duck and weave.each individual understands his style best and figure it out. its not insurmountable.some initiative and imagination is required here to work out a suitbale strategy vs the short ball. also trying to pull tait from outside off to leg is plain stupidity. so far i have seen rohit,moirkel and now raina doing the same suicidal shot. but i am impressed with how rohit is conquering alien conditions.and equally annoyed with his streaks of stupdity that let's everyone down.he keeps coming up with stupidity somewhere while being sublime.