The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : ‘We have plans for Dhoni’

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‘We have plans for Dhoni’

Jaipur: After four consecutive wins in the DLF-IPL, Rajasthan Royals players, except for skipper Shane Warne, enjoyed a holiday on Friday.

Though in an upbeat mood Darren Berry, Director of Coaching Rajasthan Royals, showed respect to Chennai Super Kings. “No doubt, if Chennai had won on Friday night, it would have come here on top. I heard M.S. Dhoni saying that they have depth in the absence of Hayden and Hussey. We would like to see how much depth they have.

“We respect our rival. Dhoni is an excellent captain and it’s going to be a good challenge for our bowlers to bowl to them. They have good batsmen, that’s why they won four games in a row.”

But the Royals have a plan. “Like every team, we have plans for particular players and we have some plans for Dhoni. He is a very destructive player and sometimes the plans might not come off. We also have plans for their four left-handers at the top, and when Dhoni comes, stay tuned.

“We have played two here and won two. We like the conditions here. It’s a wicket for batting, but Warne thinks there is a little bit of purchase for spin. It’s going to be a good test for our bowlers on Sunday night,” he added.

Berry went to say that the coaching group has set a goal, to win five of the first seven matches. “We want to win on Sunday, so that would give us the five. If we get five, we will go to Mumbai looking for a six. It was a mini-goal at half-way.

“People are talking about eight wins for the semifinals, but we are not focused on the number, we are going about to get our plans right. We would like to finish as high as possible, not fourth.” — Special Correspondent

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