Gautam Gambhir is good at getting partners run out! Rubbish. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has complained against Gambhir for being selfish!
Far from truth if one goes by what the Indian skipper had to say about the left-handed opener during his pre-match media interaction here on Wednesday.
This is what Dhoni had to say much before the media went berserk with the so-called feud linked to an unnamed source in the team.
“The best thing I like him about is that he is an aggressive character. If you see the last few games, he has batted beautifully. There has been a lot of improvement in his batting.
“I like him whenever he is aggressive. I don’t mean only stepping out and hitting the ball, but even defending the ball positively.
“He is a big game player and I hope he can convert his starts. He is taking time but I am hopeful that he can get us a good one.”
What of the dressing room, divided and tense? “The spirit is really good, that’s something we have maintained really well. In tough times, the people who will really support you are your team members and the support staff. We have kept it really close.
“And the good things is that we are enjoying ourselves, which at times you don’t tend to do when you go through a rough patch. So when it comes to the atmosphere in the dressing room, it’s really good.”
Dhoni showed he was focussed on his job. “If you are part of Indian cricket, you’ll see that everything is under the microscope and everyone has an opinion.
“The good thing or the bad thing is that everybody asks questions, but nobody comes up with a solution.
“That’s the brilliant part of it. People who have covered cricket for a long time know that once you have a result, there are easy questions on why that guy wasn’t picked or why this guy wasn’t given the new ball and something else.
“In cricket, there are always a lot of questions. So we are under the microscope throughout our lives.”
The India skipper did not mind criticism from past cricketers.
“As ex-cricketers, we respect their opinion. But we have our own problems to solve. We need to look at how we get everything right and not worry about things that are not in our control.
“All these people are reputed ex-cricketers who have played for India, so we respect their opinions. But we have other problems that need to be solved.”
Dhoni concluded by highlighting the role played by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. “It’s not that when a captain goes up to a bowler, he passes on some great advice (guru-mantra) to the bowlers.
“We have Viru and Sachin who are senior players and can help the bowlers. But ultimately it’s up to the bowlers to execute the plans. I have also always believed that it’s important not to spoon feed anyone.
“We meet every hour when the drinks happen. There is no need to spread panic. Viru and Sachin keep having chats with the bowlers when they stand in mid-on and mid-off.”
