Zaheer Khan always has a back-up plan, says Dhoni

With Zaheer Khan back in the fold for the Durban Test, skipper MS Dhoni is assured that the Indian bowling attack will not look as clueless as it did in the series opener.

Zaheer missed the first Test because of an injury and the Indian bowlers were plundered for 620 runs at the Centurion, managing to dismiss only four South African batsmen.

“It’s not that whenever Zaheer plays, he gets wickets. But with the amount of experience in his repertoire, he always has a back-up plan ready in case the first strategy doesn’t work,” Dhoni said.

Trying to defend the pace trio of S Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and rookie Jaydev Unadkat, all of whom failed to make any sort of impression at the SuperSport Park, their skipper said: “It was difficult because there was not much help from the wicket. We don’t have bowlers with express pace. They don’t bowl in 140s so they have to be even more precise with their line and length.”

“We tried different fields. We tried to contain them but were unsuccessful for the better part of their innings,” the Indian captain said.

Dhoni was diplomatic when asked about the difference Zaheer could have made to the Indian team’s fortunes in the first game.

“It’s always difficult to predict the performance of an individual. Especially, we talk a lot about an individual when he is not present,” the skipper said.

The Indian team has a tendency to be slow starters and it was once again ruthlessly exposed by the South Africans in the opening game of the current series.

The Test was lost on the opening day itself when the Indian batting line-up was routed for 136. In their previous series against New Zealand too, they had a poor first Test and just about managed to draw the game.

“That’s one quality we have. We don’t really do well in the first Test. It’s not only in India but even overseas. However, if you look at the previous records, we have come back well in the later stages.

Hopefully, we will be back in the next two Test matches,” the skipper said.