Every side is good enough to win the World T20: MS Dhoni

India continued their authoritative form in the 3^rd T20I and thrashed Sri Lanka by 9 wickets to clinch the series 2-1. Also, their first bilateral series win at home. MS Dhoni won the toss and though they had little idea the track would turn as much, decided to bowl first, he started with Ravichandran Ashwin and he instantly got them the breakthrough, in fact, two in the very first over. There after Sri Lanka were never in the game and one after the other Indian bowlers were brought in and got the wickets. Ashwin also recorded the best bowling figures by an Indian in T20Is returning with 4-1-4-8.

83 was never going to be challenging for the Indian lineup that bats as deep as number 9. Though they didn’t need to test their depth, the top order did it for India. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan started off well but after India lost Rohit, his partner batted with more caution taking calculated risk to keep the chase going. Rahane also did his part and in the end, they got there in 13.5 overs as Dhawan smashed another beautiful boundary to conclude the game.

Indian skipper was the happy man today as his side continued their impressive performance in the shortest format of the game. India with this win also retained the number 1 ranking in T20Is. MS Dhoni said: I feel it was a very good game. It was important to restrict them to a decent total after we opted to bowl. I felt the bowlers bowled really well, especially the spinners and Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers today. In between, you will lose one or two games and that’s fair. You want to go hard at times and sometimes it doesn’t come off when you end up losing too many wickets. We want to keep playing the way we are. The consistency in our performances will give us the kind of confidence we want to have when we play this format.”

On what this squad brings with it he said, “We have got experienced players, 8 seasons of IPL we all have played. In international cricket, we have played one or two games here and then. It’s the IPL that has given us the chance to groom ourselves in this format, the experience we need to play in this format. That extra batter at eight helps us a lot. With a few part-timers, there are many players who can do both the jobs and that’s helping us a lot. The conditions have been good and it’s been great to exploit those conditions here. In these conditions, the part-timers come into play. That gives us the liberty of trying out a few things. If one of the bowlers have an off day, someone else can chip in. What’s important for us is to be expressive.”

What does he think are their chances going into the Asia Cup and the World T20? Dhoni said: “We need to take one game at a time, the build-up has been good. The Asia Cup and the few warm-up games should help us before the World T20. Every side has got a few players that can take the game away from the opposition and that’s where the experience will count. It should be a good T20 World Cup. Every side is good enough to win the World T20. We will have to try and play our best cricket if we want to win that tournament.”

Indian offie was picked the Man of the Match and the Man of the Series for his performance. Ashwin said: “I hope this (his current bowling form) lasts forever. The ball is coming out well and in all the three games, I have had a good time with the ball. Thankfully, I had a bat in Pune as well. I have been working really hard with the trainer, the fielding coach as well. I want to contribute, I want to be an attribute to the team and I don’t want to be deficient in any department. I was looking for a five-for today. The wicket had a lot of dampness and the ball was gripping the surface. I wanted to pick up a five-for in a T20I. I have a couple of variations, I have a good arm ball and a good carrom ball. I try to keep the batsmen guessing and if I pick one or two wickets in the powerplay, I am a different bowler altogether. I am bowling well and I have been challenging the batters well. It is important to know how much of a window you have to flight the ball. I always have the courage to go for runs and I always have the courage to flight the ball.”

A dejected Dinesh Chandimal said: “It was really difficult. As batsmen, we didn’t perform throughout the series. We kept losing wickets, we needed to get 140+ to have a chance. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it. It happens with an inexperienced side, they were trying to hit a lot of boundaries. We will try to learn from this. I am very impressed with the bowlers, Chameera and Shanaka. We need to regroup as a team and we are looking forward to the next tournament.”

(Source: Cricbuzz commentary)

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