Settling scores against Australia is not on Dhoni’s mind. He’s focused on good cricket
Settling scores against Australia is not on Dhoni’s mind. He’s focused on good cricket
BANGALORE: Let’s call Australia vs India the marquee rivalry of contemporary cricket. Everyone else is. But amidst all the hype, there is one man who is staying calm and characteristically casual - India’s wicketkeeper and Test captain-in-waiting Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
“A lot happened when they (Australians) came to India the last time and played well in the Test matches. The hype was further increased when we went Down Under and played well. India and Australia have always played a good game of cricket and people expect it to be competitive, that’s why the excitement,” he said after Day 2 of the preparatory camp in Bangalore. “Especially as they (Australians) are the top-ranked side and we are a side that plays really well against them. Both the teams fight aggressively.”
And though the popular sentiment is ‘revenge’, settling scores with his Aussie counterparts is clearly not on Dhoni’s agenda. “More than getting desperate and wanting to settle scores with Australians, we need to take one match at a time, we need to do well session by session,” he said. “Desperation will hamper the performance. You can’t really be at your best if you are too desperate to perform.”
Recent bomb attacks in India created security concerns for the visitors. Does he think these apprehensions would distract the Australians and give India an advantage? “We are not bothered if security issues concern Australia or not. We are looking at our preparation and things that we need to do,” he said.
Maintaining fitness levels is one of thosekey aspects of preparation, and Dhoni
believes the team is on the right track as far as that is concerned.
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