India cannot expect to come back in the series if big guns don't fire tomorrow
India cannot expect to come back in the series if big guns don't fire tomorrow
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India's margin of defeat in the first ODI against Australia was just four runs, but the difference between the two sides on the day was surely not that narrow.
Had it not been for Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar, who added 84 runs in little less than 10 overs, India would have been defeated comprehensively.
There's no doubt Yuvraj Singh's contribution with both bat and ball will help India immensely in the rest of the series, but they do need to get a few things right before the second game in Nagpur tomorrow.
For starters, the top order has to fire and Dhoni is aware of it.
Big knock
"Among the top five-six batsmen, there was only one fifty. What you really want is that one of the guys gets a big hundred so that things become a bit easy," Dhoni said.
"If that doesn't happen, then you want three or four batsmen to score half-centuries. What really matters is how many partnerships you have got," Dhoni said.
In the last game, four Australian batsmen scored half-centuries while only Gautam Gambhir managed to cross that milestone for India.
With Yuvraj back, India will have a solid batsman at number four who has the experience to play according to the situation and the ability to punish any kind of bowling. But it is the number five position that the think-tank needs to plan properly. Suresh Raina has often been sent at No 6 with Dhoni or Virat Kohli coming ahead of him.
A player like Raina needs to get his eye in before he can hit the big shots and Raina coming to bat at the death is not helping his or India's cause. With Yusuf Pathan not in the side, someone like Dhoni, who can muscle the bowling around needs to be at the other end instead of Raina who is a natural timer of the ball.
Batting at No 4, Raina has scored 319 runs from six games while batting at five, he has managed 297 from nine matches. but at six, he has scored 555 runs from 20 games.
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