Indian Test team is coming up well: MS Dhoni

Former India Test match skipper MS Dhoni has stated that the Indian Test team is shaping up well under the leadership of Virat Kohli. The 27-year old has led the Indians for almost two years and is yet to lose a Test series. His tenure as skipper has been consummated by wins against the West Indies and South Africa. Dhoni, who gave up the captaincy in the fall of 2014 has been involved with the Indian side in the shorter formats.

“I think the Indian Test team is shaping up well. It seemed we were more settled in T20 and ODI but now our team had a good batting experience. If you notice, for the last 2 and a half years, we had the same batting unit, barring one or two changes. So you learn a lot. The Test remains the ultimate format,” Dhoni told reporters after the 2nd T20I was washed out on Sunday.

“On top of it, one plus point is that all our fast bowlers are fit now and the way they are bowling. We have 10 proper fast bowlers and it’s an asset. Now we will be playing a lot of matches, so we can rotate our fast bowlers if we want to,” he observed.

MS Dhoni also highlighted the importance of the talent pool that the Indian side. “As far as performance is concerned, the talent and experience of the team have started to get reflected in the performance and in the times to come, this season we will be playing 13 Tests and I think by the end of it if everything goes well, touch wood, we will be the number one team in the world and the gap between the first and second team will be substantial,” he added.

“I don’t think the wicket changed a lot. It is same as the last wicket. It is the exposure that they had in the last game, it gave them the ability to go back and think about their own game plan and often when there is no break between two matches, it actually helps the bowlers to quickly go back and plan,” said the 35-year-old from Ranchi.

Also read – KL Rahul is going to be a star: Michael Clarke

Speaking about the team, Dhoni backed the fact that the Indians were playing and executing their plans in an aggressive manner. “It is the execution that matters and I think it was great. The addition of a spinner also paid off well. Mishra bowled really well. I felt it was the whole bowling unit who could restrict them to 140, it was a brilliant effort,” he added.

There is plenty to take away. The way we chased down 244 odd (245) and came close in the last game was a difficult one. The reason being once you have so many runs to chase, it puts you under pressure to score right from the start and the batsmen did it pretty well,” he said.

“When it comes to bowling, the first game was tough for the bowlers but the way they came back in the second game, it was fantastic, it showed a lot about the character of the bowling unit. We have a more experienced unit. They have played a lot of Test cricket and also have the experience of playing at IPL and shorter format.

Also read – Difficult for the bowlers to get into the groove after the Test series: MS Dhoni

“As a unit, the bowlers are looking good. As a batting unit, it was slightly different from the World T20 team, it was a chance for a few youngsters to come and grab the opportunities. The biggest was the way Rahul batted. Of course, the result didn’t go in our favour but overall a lot of positives.

“The concern for me was the fact that quickly we have to adapt to the shorter format and most of the guys were playing Test match before this so the transformation had to be great and I think all the team members responded well to that.”