India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni showered praise on off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and opener Shikhar Dhawan for their standout performance in the ongoing ICC World Cup.
“The spinners have really bowled well. As far as Ashwin is concerned, obviously he’s someone that I always love to have, the reason being I always pushed him to bowl in the powerplays and even have used him whenever I’m in difficult situations. So he is really confident about his bowling. He understands his bowling well,” Dhoni said about his leading spinner, who has taken 11 wickets in five games so far.
“I believe he [Ashwin] has learnt a lot in the last few foreign tours. The good thing with him is that he keeps improving himself. Every time he’s part of the series, he sees the challenges and accordingly he improves. So it’s obviously good to have him, and it’s good to see him bowl really well,” the skipper said.
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Dhoni also spoke about a player needing at least 15 minutes to get ‘into the zone’ when asked to comment on Dhawan’s performance.
“It obviously takes time but I have always said, it’s those 15 minutes that really changes everything. I’m glad he [Shikhar Dhawan] got those 15 minutes. What he’s doing well is making the most out of it. As you know you may go through tough periods where you may not score runs, and you may get good deliveries, but it’s important to think about the process,” Dhoni said.
“Whatever your limitations are, you keep improving on those areas. Whatever your strength is, you make sure that whenever it is in that particular area you make the most out of it by getting a boundary.”
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Asked about how motivated the team will be facing Zimbabwe in an inconsequential game, the skipper said, “We’re highly motivated. If it comes to the points, we have qualified for the next stage, but still, it was a challenge in itself because the travelling issue that we had. A lot of boys didn’t get enough sleep before this game because of the time we landed and the travelling that we have to do and all of that.”
He also lauded the fielders for their brilliant effort, stating that the new crop of players have really raised the bar in the fielding department.