RPS have two games left in the IPL with no stakes. Kanitkar stressed that his side will play "fair but hard" in their remaining matches.
One of the many painstaking sights of Rising Pune Supergiants' dismal season this IPL has been Mahendra Singh Dhoni's batting. His unbeaten 8 in 22 balls in their last game against Kolkata Knight Riders was far from the Dhoni that we all know.
But for RPS assistant coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar, there is nothing wrong with the skipper.
"For so many years, we're just used to seeing Dhoni go out and finish the innings, that's why we call him a finisher. But like anybody else in cricket, there are times when things happen and things don't happen. Not necessarily that a person is not trying. It's just one of those things, small things like a couple of shots that he hit were caught right at the boundary. Maybe if they carried over (it could have been different). Things like that do happen and they do count. I don't think we should read too much into it. It's just a matter of clicking and it will happen sooner than later," Kanitkar said here on Monday.
Surely, it must be frustrating for Dhoni as well. But Kanitkar said: "I haven't seen him getting frustrated at all. He has always been very calm."
RPS have two games left in the IPL with no stakes. Kanitkar stressed that his side will play "fair but hard" in their remaining matches.
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"First of all, we'll always maintain the way we want to play our cricket is fair but hard. We want to give everything that we can to win a game. Having said that, with two games remaining, there are a few players who we might want to give a chance. But we haven't still marked out who they are or what we want to do. But that is an option that we have right now," he said.
The former India all-rounder from Pune said it was not hard to motivate a team that has been defeated in nine of their 12 matches so far. "Everyone is a professional, each player plays for his own pride as well as the pride of the team. We want to win the match, no matter what the position is. The other thing is that you never know when you start turning things around. Two big victories here will help us next year to really believe in ourselves and come out strong. So, we are not taking anything lightly and we're going to give everything we have out there."
Meanwhile, Delhi Daredevils batting coach Pravin Amre said that his team is looking to play "really good cricket and get two crucial points" here. "We take confidence from the fact that we have beaten all the four teams that are sitting ahead of us in the points table. We have played some good, smart cricket. We learn from our mistakes, which is the best lesson one can get. We are raring to go and play our best cricket."
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