Slightly difficult to pick Rishi Dhawan - Dhoni

[Malcolm Merlyn]

The Himachal Pradesh allrounder Rishi Dhawan is likely to accumulate a lot of frequent flyer points and bowl a lot in the nets, but the India cap looks as far as it did before he was selected for the Australia tour. On pitches where Australia are playing no specialist spinners, and where the India spinners have been moderately effective, captain MS Dhoni feels the only way Rishi can play is if a specialist batsman is dropped, and if that happens, Dhoni said, India will be playing with "six bowlers".

Despite going for 239 in 37 overs for three wickets to outfield catches, spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are being considered better on hopelessly unhelpful tracks than Rishi on tracks with good bounce. This should come as a strong message to the selectors.

Dhoni was asked if he had given a thought to going horses for courses as opposed to playing his best bowlers on paper. He responded: "If you see what is important is to see that we played the first game with our best bowling attack. In this game, too, Ishant [Sharma] was fit and we thought he will get good bounce. We feel it is important to play with a proper bowling set-up. And at the same time you cannot neglect the batting.

"When it comes to whether we can play the extra seamer, if your frontline three seamers are going for runs, it is slightly difficult for somebody like a Rishi to come in. He may bowl well, but I am saying it will be slightly difficult for him to be successful with the fielding restrictions. He is not someone who bowls very quick. At the same time in the middle overs you need to bowl a lot of dot balls. That's where you have to decide whether you are better off playing with the two spinners.

"The only option you have is, you will have to sit out Ashwin because Jadeja gives you that cushion of batting. It is a difficult one. I still feel 3-2 (seamer-spinner) is the best combination. If somebody was there who could bowl a bit of seam-up, that obviously helps. As of now we don't really have [one]. We can't really look at Rishi because to play him we will have to get rid of a proper batsman. Then we will have to play six bowlers. Six bowlers is a bit of luxury to have in cricket nowadays."

Australia, on the other hand, have handed out debuts to two fast bowlers and have stuck with them. They have rotated two other quicks, but have been blessed with the presence of a proper allrounder in James Faulkner and a batsman who can bowl in Glenn Maxwell. The only "allrounder" in the Indian squad is not being considered much of a bowler. In the absence of any evidence against proper batsmen, Dhoni's assessment of Rishi is the only considered one we have even though it goes against the view of the selectors.

At any rate Dhoni seems to have stopped asking for better from his bowlers. After India lost defending 309 in Perth, there was a clear change in the way they batted in the middle over in Brisbane. They had now set themselves up for 340, but lost their way in the end, and the bowlers gave up the defence of 308 just as easily in Brisbane as they did in Perth. Now Dhoni says there are only two choices left: either score in excess of 330 or just choose to chase. And he said that while answering a question about the extras - 11 wides and a no-ball.

"In both the games we have given a fair amount of extras," Dhoni said. "That takes that number of runs off the total. On good wickets it does matter. As far as Ishant is concerned, I think the breeze was flowing in circular motions. I felt that made it slightly difficult for him. I feel even if we cut down the extras we will have to score more runs. There are two options: either put pressure on [our] batsmen and score 330 or chase down the score, give them the batting first. These are the only two options we have got. We will have a look and decide what suits us the best."

If India are to score those extra 30 runs a quick start from Shikhar Dhawan can go a long way, but he has thrown his wicket away twice. Even if Dhoni wanted to drop him, he wouldn't be able to because the selectors have given him only five established specialist batsmen. The only way for that to happen would be for Ajinkya Rahane to open, the idea of which Dhoni likes; he is not entirely convinced with the idea of Rahane the middle-order batsman.

"Jinx has improved a lot in his batting," Dhoni said. "But also the wickets are good here. What is important is to see him when the wickets slow down and he is pushed to play the big shots. When ball comes on he loves it, and plays very good strokes. I feel he has improved a lot. We will wait and watch and see what the best position for him is. I have personally believed he is very good opener because he plays proper cricketing shots. He cuts and pulls, but he plays proper shots. He can accelerate whenever he wants to. Also once he starts with the new ball, he is quite good by the time the middle overs start. So far it is good he has done well in both the positions. We will see how it goes."

For now, though, Shikhar has the captain's confidence. "Shikhar is someone who loves to play his shots," Dhoni said. "If somebody plays shots from the very start, there will be periods when he won't score runs. You can say it was a rash shot, but that's the time you are supposed to back your stroke-players."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2015-16/content/story/962511.html

[G_B_]

I feel mostly Rishi will be smashed. But he deserves his chance...

[Malcolm Merlyn]

Does any of this make sense?Except the fact that Dhoni doesnt give a damn about what selectors think?What is the result in the match?What is the pitch and other conditions.

He is pretty clear that he wont drop Jadeja at any cost.

Selectors must take a call now.

[Ankit_sharma03]

i feel rishi dhawan looks ordinary but he may not be

Point is ppl like jadeja n other had their chances n that to so many 

Wud it harm if u give the guy a chance, can we do anything worst than a defeat.

 

The same reason gurkeerat mann cudnt make debut in Sa series , not he might have to debut in aus n that even migh not happen

[Malcolm Merlyn]

Jadeja should not be picked in the squad.Thats the only way we can get rid of him from the squad.Dhoni will never drop him,no matter how many we lose.

[Pagalpanti]

Does any of this make sense?Except the fact that Dhoni doesnt give a damn about what selectors think?What is the result in the match?What is the pitch and other conditions.

He is pretty clear that he wont drop Jadeja at any cost.

Selectors must take a call now.

[Forever Indian]

Slightly Very difficult to accept Dhoni as captain - Indian fans

 

[tweaker]

I think this is power struggle in Bcci. This may be due to Anurag Thakur who is from Himachal Pradesh. Dhoni has great support from some lobby or Shrinivasan is still enjoying enough support in Bcci.

If the selectors have some shame they should exercise their power & throw him out .

[adi B]

Well pacers can restrict the run flow somewhat.its a simple decision for dhoni now,drop one spinner (ideally ashwin because they hardly have any lefties) and play either booby or rishi.4 pacers are a must ,Melbourne and Adelaide won't be any different ,rather more flatter lol

[Adi_91]

There is a talk that Melbourne will provide slightly more assistance to spinners. Dhoni will take that with both hands and play the same team. Who knows even Bhuvi may make a comeback to finish off the series in style at G!

[Lannister]

How hard is it to get spinners are not ideal on Aussie pitches? Just select the team according to the conditions.

[dragonfly]

If it is hard to pick him given the pitches, etc then why has been selected altogether for the tour?

[rkt.india]

I dont understand Dhoni's methods. He can consider Axar Patel an alrounder and play him at 7, but not Rishi who has done better than him in FC cricket. Give him a spinner and tell he is an alrounder, he will play  him straight away and give him a medium pacer and say he is an alrounder, he will say we dont hane an  seam alrounder. How are you going to develop one until you play them. He wants everything readymade. 

Also, Manish Pandey is a far better seam bowler than Kohli then why does not he try him as a part tmer.

[Mosher]

Our ODI side and T20 sides are far from settled. Before the series started didn't Dhoni say that he will try out new players? Now he is giving reasons for not picking them in the playing 11. If he doesn't give new players a chance in a meaningless bilateral series, when will he give them chances? 

[express bowling]

Dhoni's public statements are getting weirder day by day.

Rishi Dhawan is a decent batsman.  Can he really be a much worse batter than Jaddu has been in international cricket ? If his bowling is more suitable for certain kinds of pitches or conditions then why not pick him over Jaddu ?  

It seems like he is justifying playing Jaddu, as well as 2 spinners, no matter what.

He is also saying indirectly that he will play with his favourite group of players if they are available for selection in the team of 15.  If Raina were there in the team then we would probably not see Pandey irrespective of the form and effectiveness of Raina in Australia. This is sad and unacceptable. The BCCI should step in.

Edited January 16, 2016 by express bowling

[kosingh]

Is there even one area where Dhoni is going well? His team selections, his strategies, his bowling changes, his batting orders, his batting form.....everything is very poor.

[Sooda]

This is where Pandya could have been a better option than Rishi, certainly as a power hitting lower order batsman, style of bowling may have been better suited too. I dont think having a 6th bowler who can bat is that much of a luxury if it means we dont see Kohli and Rohit bowling and we have someone to turn to when front line bowlers are getting whacked

[express bowling]

This is where Pandya could have been a better option than Rishi, certainly as a power hitting lower order batsman, style of bowling may have been better suited too. I dont think having a 6th bowler who can bat is that much of a luxury if it means we dont see Kohli and Rohit bowling and we have someone to turn to when front line bowlers are getting whacked

Without any doubt it should be far easier to pick Pandya in the team compared to Dhawan. Why did the selectors leave him out in the first place ?

If Dhoni picks Pandya in place of Jaddu in the Australian T20s then that would make him look far more fair in team selection. Let's see.

[GautiMaan]

Without any doubt it should be far easier to pick Pandya in the team compared to Dhawan. Why did the selectors leave him out in the first place ?

If Dhoni picks Pandya in place of Jaddu in the Australian T20s then that would make him look far more fair in team selection. Let's see.

I hope we don get to hear the phrase 'hard to pick Hardik'  

[express bowling]

I hope we don get to hear the phrase 'hard to pick Hardik'