MS Dhoni praises Ojha and Ashwin’s performance against New Zealand

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has lavished praise on Ravi Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha for their wonderful efforts in the Test series against New Zealand. Even though the wickets were not tailor-made for spin bowling, the Kiwis were clueless against Dhoni’s
spin twins.

By beating the opposition by five wickets in the second and final Test, India won the series 2-0. New Zealand set a target of 261, which the Indians comfortably achieved with the help of Virat Kohli’s classy half-century.

Ashiwn was star of the show, as he bagged five wickets only for 69 runs. Hailing both spinners particularly the right-arm off-spinner, Dhoni said:

"It was pleasing to see them (spinners) fight batsmen on a wicket, which was not helping them, specially in the first innings of both Test matches. He is learning that. The good thing is that both the spinners complimented each other. They are hunting well.
Their performance was really good in the series."

Sachin Tendulkar’s poor show with the bat was India’s biggest concern in the series. But Dhoni is not worried about the batting form of the Master Blaster, saying that the legendary batsman comes with a strong effort, whenever the critics talk about his
form.

He said similar things about Gautam Gambhir, adding that the Delhi batsman is batting well in the nets, and needs just a good knock to regain form.

"I am just waiting for it. I don’t get worried about that.  Today as a matter fact he started off really well. We are hoping he will come good in coming few games," Dhoni told the reporters after the game.

When asked whether the side felt the absence of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, the skipper described, "We miss their (Laxman and Dravid) kind of performance they have given for the last 12 to 15 years."

"I feel the boys coming in are not replacing anyone, they are coming in with their own character. It was nice to see them perform. It is a continuous learning process for them and they are shaping really good, that’s a big positive for us."

On his own batting, Dhoni uttered, "If the ball is in my area I will hit it because it is important to score runs. If you have played 100 balls in a day, you should at least get 40-45 runs, if not more. I am not curbing my instinct too much, but I am trying
to improve as a cricketer."  

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Sep 4 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry