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Mahendra Singh Dhoni

February 19, 2012 by · Comments Off on Mahendra Singh Dhoni 

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday backed the team’s rotation policy in the top order, saying the top three batsmen were not playing each game because they are slow on the field.

Dhoni explained the reasons why Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir are not playing all the games together, even as India lost the tri-series game against Australia by 110 runs at the Gabba.

“It might happen (they playing together, but) it would affect our fielding in a big way, it’s not only these three, there are quite a few other players who are also slow on the field. If you really add it up, you would have only two or three good fielders.

“These fielders are not bad but on these big fields, they are slightly on the slower side. They would be exploited once the ball goes to them, the Australians and Sri Lankans would look for those two or three runs to put pressure on their body. Their throwing and diving needs to be good,” Dhoni said.

The skipper said fielding in the big grounds of Australia could lead to breakdowns.

“They are safe fielders on the slower side. The pressure would be on them. They would have to throw from positions where there would be pressure on them. There would be breakdowns. It’s not like India where the ball goes to a boundary and you just throw it back. Here, you can pull muscle or a hamstring.

“Batting and bowling is something which has variables but fielding is one department where you could always score. It keeps the morale of the team up, there is intensity.”

Dhoni was pretty upset that the third umpire initially gave Mike Hussey out and then informed the on field umpires that the wrong button was pressed.

“I just told them (the two umpires) it’s difficult to be an umpire if you are on the field. But if you are sitting in an air conditioned room and if you have the luxury of seeing the replays, as an umpire you may perhaps take an extra minute to press the right button.

“We have different emotions going through and you are happy a batsman has got out. After two seconds you are told he’s pressed the wrong button. It’s not really a joke, if you are sitting in an airconditioned room, you got to make sure you press the right button.

“He just commited a mistake, but what I would like to see, I got out in West Indies when an entirely different ball was shown, I could have been called back. If they are consistent I don’t have any issue.”

Dhoni said the attitude towards fielding still remains the same in India.

“In India, even when we play first class cricket, fielding was always “Khattna” (just to somehow go through it) and bowling and batting was fun. Cricket has now changed.

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