The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : ‘Open mind on No.3 slot’

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‘Open mind on No.3 slot’

Special Correspondent

London: India cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his side would seek to retain its intensity levels going into Super Eight stage of the ICC World Twenty20.

Talking about his counterpart Chris Gayle, he said here on Thursday, “It would be hard to station fielders outside the boundary since he often hits the ball outside the ground! We know somebody like him, if it is his day, can play a match-winning innings. We also have players like Rohit Sharma and Yusuf Pathan who can do a lot of damage with the bat.”

In the light of West Indies’ ordinary fielding against Sri Lanka, Dhoni said, “It is not about the big hits alone. It is also about rotating the strike. Running your singles and twos hard and putting pressure on the fielders.”

Speaking about the West Indian bowling he said, “They have a couple of guys who can bowl above 140kmph. They also bowl the slower bouncer well. Again we have a very good blend of pace and spin. We will most likely go with two spinners again.”

“In the past few games, we have improved in the manner we bowl in the Death overs,” he said. Dhoni added the team looked at the No. 3 slot with an open mind.

Dhoni said Dinesh Karthik could both double up as an opener or score quickly towards the end as he did in the IPL. “He can also take my place as the ’keeper if I have a fitness problem.” Karthik is expected to arrive here on Friday.

Team manager V. Chamundeswarnath denied Sehwag was operated upon in England. “He just went to meet a consultant. He will continue to stay with the team as a BCCI guest. He is not going anywhere else,” he said.

Mr. Chamundeswarnath added, “Everyone knows that Zaheer Khan and Sehwag were injured during the IPL. It’s nothing new. It’s just that Sehwag could not recover in time. Given his potential, we wanted to give him time so that he could recover at some stage during the competition. That did not happen.”

The Indian team has so far not named a vice-captain.

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