MS Dhoni feels it was a good decision to rest some of the key players for the first three ODIs
Ahead of the opening ODI against New Zealand in Dharamshala on Saturday, lndian limited-overs skipper MS Dhoni has said that the decision to rest players like R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja etc was a goo one, keeping in mind the long season and added that in their absence, it gave a chance to some of the fringe players.
“If you see this team, we have to keep the rest of the season also in mind. There is very little break in the middle. I think it is a good decision to a rest a few players. At times, we have to keep a long time view. Its gives us an opportnity to give see a few new players and it will be good to see the bench strength. We will be playing 8 matches before the Champions Trophy, so whatever we have we can see in this period,” Dhoni said in the press conference on Saturday.
With Suresh Raina ruled out of the opening ODI because of viral fever, it provides an opportunity for the 34-year-old to maybe promote himself a bit and speaking about that, Dhoni revealed that he may bat up the order, but not necessarily at Number 4, which he did in the Bangladesh series in 2015.
“I may bat slightly bat up the order now. This team gives me that opportunity to bat at the position where I am looking to. Still it will be quite low, its not like a number 4 but it will be relatively higher to the position where I have batted in the last few years,” Dhoni said.
There has been call on whether Virat Kohli should take up the ODI captaincy as well from Dhoni and speaking about having different captains in different formats, Dhoni
“I have started using him more. there is more interaction. Its evident if you watch the game. Two individuals will conduct in different ways. The practical way is very important. A lot of time you can argue on the theory aspect, but practicality is what is during the game.
We have a lot of chat on what needs to be done and he will give an example and if we are not on the same page, then I give my opinion.
“I think we follow the west a lot. I think we follow west a lot . A few years back we spoke about split captaincy. Then we asked why not and now we are asking why. I think we look at the foreign teams and we are like we should do be doing that way. But culturally, we are very different. The amount of cricket that we play is very different,”.