India’s six-wicket win over Zimbabwe yesterday – their sixth consecutive victory in the 2015 World Cup – may not have been as comfortable as the margin suggests, but that is exactly what skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was looking for.
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Speaking to the media after playing a starring role in the chase of 288 with an unbeaten knock of 85, Dhoni said: “I think it couldn’t have been better, in the sense if you are playing your last league game, and if you get an easy win, you don’t get a lot out of that game.
“What was good was the spinners were put under pressure, and we also lost quick wickets initially, and that actually put our middle and lower middle-order under pressure. So, we gained a lot out of it.”
The captain said it was important for Suresh Raina, who made an unbeaten 110 and put on 196 runs for the fifth wicket with him, to spend some time in the middle.
Suresh Raina is named as Player of the Match for his #INDvsZIM match winning century #CWC15 #TwitterMirror pic.twitter.com/ZsOqhReVcl
— ICC (@ICC) March 14, 2015
“Winning, of course, was very important, but the knock by Raina was very crucial coming at No5,” he said.
“More often than not, you don’t get an opportunity if you are playing in his position. You get in to bat maybe after the 38th, 39th over if your top order is batting well and you have to slog it out, and you get out playing the big shot and not get much runs.
“At the end of the day, when you get into the knockout stages you want to have runs under your belt. It doesn’t really matter how many runs, but once you get going, it just gives you that good feeling, which is important in the knockout stages.”
Dhoni finished a match with a six for the ninth time in his career, but said he did not plan it that way.
“No, I was not planning to hit a six,” he added. “It’s just a reflex that takes over.
“Also, by that time I was quite set. I had played a number of deliveries. I got my time in the middle, and we had several batsmen left, and with only five or six runs needed, there was no pressure.
“If it’s there, you hit it because you don’t really have that pressure of thinking whether the guys coming after you will be able to score those five or six runs or not. Once you’re that close, at times you take that chance.”
While almost everyone in the team has performed in the World Cup, the one player who has struggled with both bat and ball is Ravindra Jadeja. Yesterday, he leaked 71 runs in his 10 overs.
But Dhoni said he is not worried about Jadeja’s form and added: “I think to some extent you may say it’s a bit of a concern.
But at the same time, he has not got enough chance to bat. Also, it’s not easy to get in the slog over here. As for bowling, I think, has bowled decently well in patches.
“He is still improving, and overall, he is a key ingredient in our team. We have put in a lot of effort and time in him since the last World Cup. He has been a regular part of the team, and he has actually done really well for us.
“I’m quite happy with the way he’s bowling. I won’t really consider today’s game because both Ashwin and him, they went for runs in shorter boundaries and it was difficult with the way Taylor was batting.”
