India captain MS Dhoni: Associates need opportunities

Joy Chakravarty 04:25 01/03/2015
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  • UAE fell to a convincing defeat to India on Saturday

    Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said he is all for associate countries getting more exposure, but added he did not see India playing against them in the near future.

    Speaking to the media after his side’s crushing nine-wicket victory over the UAE, one of the four associate countries in the 2015 World Cup, the Indian captain said that cricket in these nations needed to be nurtured, and encouraged.

    “This is a good exposure for them. They are competing with Test-playing nations because they have done really well in their associate tournaments,” he said.

    “It’s a graph. If you see Afghanistan or some of the other teams, you can see a bit of improvement in their game every time they come and play.

    India made light work of UAE at #CWC15

    “You have to see that cricket develops as a sport because what’s very important is you want it to be a global sport when it comes to participation, rather than looking at it from a commercial point of view.

    “What we have to make sure is where there’s existence of the sport, we have to keep on increasing the interest there. If there’s a bit of fire anywhere, you have to make sure it becomes a bushfire in terms of the intensity.

    “I think it’s good, whatever we have seen of the Associate nations. There has been a lot of improvement in their cricket. But we will have to give them more opportunities and we have to make sure that the infrastructure in those countries get better and better so more people can come and play cricket.”

    When asked if he saw any chance of the Associate countries playing against the Test-playing nations, Dhoni was quick to say: “Not against India. I don’t see even a few days off to play any more cricket than what we already play. If you see, the cricket nations have a calendar of 12 months in which they play a lot of Test matches and ODIs.

    “Our calendar is nine-and-ahalf months, because we play the IPL and Champions League for two-and-a-half months and we still match other Test-playing nations when it comes to the number of Tests and ODI cricket played every year.

    “I don’t see India playing any more games. We just can’t, unless we play two games in one day, which is just not possible.

    “If the Associate nations can get a few more games, good facilities, it will be good for them, but at the end of the day, it’s like a circus where you want to play in front of people, you want to compete in the best scenarios. So, we’ll have to formulate a way, but please, not India. We can’t play any more games.”

    Afghanistan have been among the stars of the 2015 World Cup

    On the match against UAE, Dhoni said the team made a concerted effort to ensure there was no let-up in their intensity.

    “I think when it comes to international cricket or any sport, you have to respect the opposition, irrespective of which team you are playing. That’s what was told to the team as a unit, that let’s not see who we are playing, let’s play the game of cricket,” Dhoni added.

    “Because at the end of the day, every wicket that you take over here will be counted as a World Cup wicket and every run you score will be counted as a World Cup run.

    “That was good enough motivation to come over here and repeat the kind of performances or the way we executed in the past few games. I was happy with the way the individuals turned up and the way we played cricket today.”

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