"A 5-Test series will be a tough competetion" - Dhoni on India's tour of England
Team India under the leadership of Dhoni has reached England for a five Test series and the warm up already started on 26th June. It’s India’s first 5-match series in a long time, and the Indian skipper says it is a challenge playing a five-Test series against the hosts with less experienced players in the side and rating a team based on its past records is just a myth.
"They know the home conditions better than us so it will be a tough battle. And a long battle, five Tests, five ODIs and one T20I. After a long time we are playing a five-Test series. So it will be something new for us," Dhoni said.
"Not really. It is never about what has happened in the past. You always assess the opposition on the basis of their team composition and England are still a fantastic side. It means that it will be a very competitive schedule for us," he opined.
Dhoni also talked about nuances involved in captaincy and was concerned about his England counter-part, Alastair Cook, who recently had a poor form in addition to the losses suffered by the team.
"You just have to see his record, how he performed when we were here last time. A bad patch of form is for every player but you need to back good players. When you score 100s or 200s all critics come on your side. But the real test of character is when you are not doing well but you still have the support of your team-mates, fans and media," said Dhoni
"Captaincy is a process. Whenever I go out to play, I am not out to prove that I am a good captain. It's about doing the job you have been given. You also have to earn the respect of the players and not demand it.
"As a captain you need to help each player and it gets you that respect. What is also very important is that when you are not doing well, help maintain the dressing room atmosphere because that is very tough phase and doubts don't help anyone. At the end, it is about keeping things simple," he added.
After a humiliating 4-0 whitewash in their last tour of England in 2011 , followed up by a 4-0 loss in the ODI series, a T20Iand then in the home series of 2012-13 where India again came up short with a 2-1 loss, which marks England’s first Test series win in the country for 28 years, a lot has changed in the Indian Team with senior players moving out making room for a young squad that has now already completed tours to South Africa and New Zealand in the last seven months, but has won none.
"Transition happens with every side. No player plays for hundred years. Some play for 15, some play for 20, but they retire at some point of time. It is something that happens to each side, to West Indies, Australia, and now India.
"It has happened to England in the past and it will happen again for them in the future. You have to go through this process inevitably, but the quicker you go through this and settle down the better for the side. Because, while this phase is on, there is always pressure on the side," said the Indian skipper.
Though the current team has a majority of players who have not yet played in the England conditions except for Dhoni himself, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma, he said that the team has got time to practise well and the young players should get familiar with the conditions.
"Of course it's better if we have experienced players. But the good point is most of these players have played some amount of cricket in England. They have played the Champions Trophy, or some form of county cricket if not a lot, or have toured here as part of Under-19 or India-A teams or some other form of cricket. All of this helps," said Dhoni.
"At the same time it will be important that those players who have little experience get used to conditions quickly. We have come here 15-20 days before the first Test and the weather has been kind so far. We have good support wherever we go in England and the facilities have been excellent. We have begun our preparations well," he signed off.
India has not won a single series outside the home since the time when they beat the West Indies 1-0 in a three-match affair in 2011.