The bouncer has been projected to be the nemesis of Indian batsmen for quite some time now. The issue resurfaced in the Napier ODI where India lost four of their top six batsmen trying to pull the short ball. However, skipper MS Dhoni said it will not stop them from attempting the shot in the future. If anything, they will endeavor to control it better the next time.
"One of the options is to not to play the shot but our strength has been to play the shot," Dhoni said after India’s 24-run loss in the first ODI against New Zealand.
"At times we will get caught because it is a difficult shot to play. But most of our batsmen like to play it since this is our strength. Especially overseas, we need to play and master it because you cannot have bowlers bowl short to you always. With two bouncers allowed you cannot leave all; (there are) nearly 80 balls with four fast bowlers out of 50 overs. We can always pick and choose when to play and when not to play,” Dhoni said.
What concerns Dhoni is the lack of contribution from the middle-order, specifically No. 4 and 5 – currently held by Ajinkya Rahane and Suresh Raina respectively.
"So far we have not got consistent runs from the No. 4 and 5 batsmen and even if you don't look at big hundreds or fifties, even then those slots are crucial.
“If the opposition has batted well, they will score 280-300. And then if you lose early wickets most of the time we are doing catching up, trying to build a partnership but then the run-rate goes up, so lower-middle order comes under pressure. Yes, we are missing consistency but if they counterattack they will come good soon in the future matches,” said the Indian skipper.
After being reduced to 129 for 4, the Indian chase was brought back on track by Virat Kohli and Dhoni with a 95-run partnership. However, what followed was an irreparable collapse as Mitchell McClenaghan dismissed both the settled batsmen and sent Ravindra Jadeja back for a duck. According to Dhoni that was the turning point of the match.
"Three wickets - me, Jaddu and Virat - we really got out in quick succession. That was when we needed a partnership. To go a bit further we could have targeted the spinner with one of their bowlers (Adam Milne) getting injured. We had extra two overs. But sadly the batsmen thought the other way around. I think they will learn out of this. It is very important that until the game doesn't get over we really should not think it is over."
Of his bowling combination, Dhoni, while admitting the spinners will not play as big a role overseas as they do in India, he put the possibility of playing four pacers out of question.
"Their roles will change when they play outside the subcontinent. The home team will never make pitches that turn and they will have to keep varying their pace and length.
"Also, whenever we have played with four fast bowlers, two things happen. One the captain gets banned, two we lose. So they are not good stats and I want to play in this series. So it doesn't seem like an option, but I think the spinners bowled pretty well. They didn't get wickets but they were able to build some kind of pressure which I think is also important,” Dhoni said.
