India captain M.S. Dhoni said here on Thursday that the hot words exchanged between the two sides in the series so far had not impacted India’s cricket adversely.
He added that the dressing room atmosphere was “fantastic.”
Dhoni said, “First of all, the chirping has nothing to do with the performance because as I said earlier we have had 30-35 minutes of bad cricket in both Tests and they cost us the matches. As far as the dressing room is concerned, we have a fantastic dressing room and there have been no issues.”
The Indian captain, after the Brisbane Test, had spoken about ‘unrest’ in the dressing room on the morning of the fourth day.
The team-management, has subsequently, sought to downplay the issue. Ahead of the Boxing Day Test, Dhoni denied there was any confrontation between vice-captain Virat Kohli and opener Shikhar Dhawan.
Dhoni said, “I don’t know where they (these stories) come from. If someone from the team has actually said this, it will be interesting if you (the media) give us the name of this individual who said this. Because his imagination is really brilliant and he should be working for the Warner Bros. movie company and he doesn’t deserve to be in our dressing room.”
Yet, Dhoni’s words after the second Test had been very different. He had said then, “That kind of a scenario (on the fourth day morning), there is a bit of unrest in the dressing room. The calmness of the dressing room goes for a toss.”
On India’s performance in the series, Dhoni said, “We have been competitive so far. If we are able to capture those situations, definitely we can turn the tide.”
Bowlers should be more disciplined
Dhoni said it was a learning process for young Indian pacemen with the Kookaburra ball. The Indian skipper wanted his bowlers to be consistent and avoid bowling no balls. “We are strict about that, even in the nets. No-balling is unacceptable because it is something in your control.”
Asked about Suresh Raina, Dhoni said, “We need a player like him. Apart from being a good batsman, he is also a good bowler. So if there is some turn, he can bowl a bit. He can give me those 10-15 overs if they are really needed.”
Queried about Cheteshwar Pujara not coming up with the big runs, he said, “We played five Tests in England and we all know Pujara and Virat (Kohli) had a lean series over there. Yes, every batsman goes through a lean patch. Over here in Australia, Pujara has been quite good but he has got a couple of tough decisions.”
Rollercoaster 10 years
On completing 10 years in international cricket recently, Dhoni said, “I have learnt a lot in 10 years. To remain humble that is most important because there are ups and downs in cricket, unless you are a Clive Lloyd and leading the West Indies team that never saw defeat in a long time. There has been so much travelling.
Overall I can say that I have seen everything in these 10 years, whatever a cricketer can possibly see, the ups and the downs.”
