MS Dhoni believes his talisman will fire, while Virender Sehwag will also likely be included against Australia
MS Dhoni believes his talisman will fire, while Virender Sehwag will also likely be included against AustraliaSYDNEY: “What can I say of him? He has scored over 16,000 runs. We’ve not faced 16,000 balls.”
That was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s summing-up of Sachin Tendulkar, who has been uncharacteristically below par in the series. Just 126 runs in six matches is not the sort of figures one generally associates with Sachin.
For an opener, an average of 21 runs in six games is not big. He is the number four among the Indians in terms of runs scored. Rohit Sharma (163), Dhoni (260) and Gautam Gambhir (246), playing in the middle order, have managed more. Even Yuvraj Singh has a better average at 22.6.
Dhoni, however, is not worried. “He can explode at any time. We’re confident he will,” he said. “We’re not worried about his form at all.”
The skipper may not be worried but the Little Master must be. On the eve of India’s key match against Australia, the pressure of expectation and his own high standards inevitably put pressure on Sachin.
Although such situations are not alien to the veteran batsman, he will be looking to wriggle out of trouble as soon as possible. Sachin, of course, was unlucky to have received a couple of harsh decisions.
But the series has been the story of batsmen’s failure. Ricky Ponting (64 @ 10.66), considered the best batsman in the world, has not got much, just as Andrew Symonds (42 @ 8.42), the most fearsome ODI player in the world.
Dhoni admitted at the pre-match press conference that it is time batsmen came to the party, while Australia’s James Hopes also said that batting has been a concern this season.
Keeping the trend in mind, the Indian team management is contemplating falling back to its seven-batsman policy to give some more impetus to the batting.
And the willow thrust could come upfront with Virender Sehwag taking his appointed place at the top of the order. “Given the poor form of the batting, we might go back to seven batsmen,” Dhoni said, dropping a hint of his thinking process. “If we opt for seven batsmen, Viru will be a certainty,” he added.
However, Sehwag’s return depends on the state of the pitch. The final call will, of course, be taken on the morrow, after a thorough inspection of the ground. Sehwag is expected to take the position of Praveen Kumar, who was rather lacklustre during India’s exciting win at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday. If India decide to go in with five bowlers, the return of Sreesanth is likely.
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