M.S. Dhoni said that the young Indian attack has performed well so far in the series against the West Indies.
“The whole bowling unit looks balanced. The fast bowlers look fresh, which means they can bowl a lot of overs in a Test. The spinners are also bowling well. Pragyan Ojha has been playing a couple of formats and R. Ashwin is new to the longer version and that means all of them are fairly fresh and raring to go and bring a bit more energy on the field. They back themselves, which is very important in Tests,” Dhoni said here on Thursday.
Lauding the bowlers
The Indian captain said that the bowlers deserved more credit because they performed on a pitch that did not help them. “In this Test, especially in the second innings, there was not much turn for the spinners and they had to rely on flight and variations. I am quite happy with their performance.
“Umesh Yadav is someone who can bowl really quick but we will have to use him in best possible manner so that we don't overuse him and he gets injured,” Dhoni said.
He also lauded the batsmen for their consistent display and said that he felt good about his century.
Bravo, who stalled Dhoni's best laid plans for a while on the fourth day, said: “I played my natural game as much as possible, luckily the big hits came off. I am happy with my performance. Before this Test, I played with my bat along the pad in the nets (to avoid lbw). I have been trying to get my bat as much in front of the pad.
It's just not Chanderpaul!
“As a batsman there has been improvement. In the second innings, the guys played well. It was good to see Adrian (Barath) and Kirk (Edwards) bat well at the top of the order and Marlon Samuels later. It is good to know that it is not just Shivnarine Chanderpaul on whom we have to depend upon to get the big scores.”
To the obvious query on comparisons with Brian Lara, Bravo said: “I am honoured by the fact that I am compared with Lara. He is definitely my role model. I play my natural game and look something like Lara but nevertheless I know that emulating him will be difficult. Hopefully, I will finish with some of the good players up there.”
