The Hindu : Sport : ‘Important to play good cricket throughout’

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‘Important to play good cricket throughout’

Principal Correspondent

Vadodara: Indian captain M.S. Dhoni has said his team needs to play good cricket right through to win the seven-match ODI series against Australia.

“This series is long and also gives us an opportunity to come back in case we lose the first few games.

“It is important to play good cricket throughout because it is not like a five-game or a four-game series where you win the first few games and the tournament is in your hands,” Dhoni said here on Saturday.

Team fit

The skipper said his team was fit and added that his left knee, that suffered a blow from a Munaf Patel delivery, was fine.

However, Dhoni refused to commit on Yuvraj Singh’s inclusion in the playing eleven for the first game as the southpaw is coming back from a finger injury.

“I won’t comment on the playing eleven. Yuvraj will play the second game and that is for sure,” Dhoni said and added that the pitch looked good besides admitting that the Australian team has better allrounders.

Focussed

Meanwhile, Australian vice-captain Michael Hussey said his team was focussed on winning the series.

“It is nice to be the number one team and it is added motivation but we don’t study the rankings. Our focus is just on winning the series in India,” Hussey said.

Hussey said it would be foolish to underestimate the Indian attack.

“Last time we were here Zaheer Khan was crucial and his absence will be a big loss for the Indians. Ishant Sharma has always looked a wonderful bowler to me. It will be wrong to underestimate the Indian spinners.

“Harbhajan Singh has played for long and has done some match-winning performances and Amit Mishra is good,” Hussey said and added that Brett Lee’s good form would add value to the Australian team.

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