MS Dhoni: In limited overs cricket, West Indies is an extraordinary team

MS Dhoni: In limited overs cricket, West Indies is an extraordinary team

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After a gap of 2 months, MS Dhoni is back with the Indian team for the 2-match T20 series against West Indies at Florida, and the skipper believes that the World T20 champs are an extraordinary team in limited-overs cricket. Dhoni also opened up about coach Anil Kumble and cricket in the USA.

The Indian Test team had an easy outing in the Test series against the Windies with them winning the series 2-0. The team also rose to the No.1 spot for five days during the period before rain played a part to push them down back to second. After the historic win in the Test series, India will now face West Indies in a short T20 series at Florida in the United States of America. With India back to coloured clothes, skipper MS Dhoni will take over the captaincy duties for the series, and speaking about the series, Dhoni said that the Windies will be a different team in T20s.

“In limited-overs, West Indies is an extraordinary team. They have a good balance of all-rounders. They don’t have one, they have two, three quality all-rounders. And this helps their balance. The smaller the format, the more success the power hitters get. They also are an entertaining team. It will be really interesting. It is an early morning start, but don’t think that will make a difference,” said the Indian skipper.

Dhoni also seemed eager to play in the USA, which has a sizeable sub-continent population. The skipper also added that the Indian team can play in the USA every year if the weather remains the same.

“Well, as far as the facilities are concerned it as good as what you will get anywhere in the world. Yes, the stadium is not that big, the capacity is not as high as we are used to. The ground is perfect when it comes to the playing area. Also, what we have to see is it is a new venture when it comes to the USA and cricket. I feel it is a perfect staging ground, few of the other nations have played cricket here before. Not to forget some of the T20 leagues,” the 37-year-old said.

“The Infrastructure looks good, and as far as the effort is concerned, I personally felt that this is a big market because of the sub-continental populations. I feel it is a good start, also, it favours everyone when it comes to timing, TV rights and even the people who want to watch it live. The conditions are quite warm and humid. Overall it is a good venue to host cricket, and it is good to be here because of the Indian population. Hopefully, they will enjoy it.

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t be successful here. We are playing cricket 11 months in a year and maybe we can play the remaining one month here, if the weather is like this. And if this becomes a part of your schedule, then we can say that we play cricket the whole year. I don’t think there is any other team that is playing cricket the whole year,” Dhoni said.

Although they have played together many a times, this will be the first time Dhoni will be playing under new coach Anil Kumble, and the skipper said that he has learned a lot from Kumble when he played with him in the past

“I learned a lot from Anil Kumble. How accurate he was and how he used to bowl to batsmen. I was not a great keeper at the start, and I was keeping to Kumble and Harbhajan on rough surfaces, and it was tough. But actually, it was not difficult to keep because you don’t have to catch too many bowls. I was actually amazed how consistent he was in bowling and how he changes from one plan to another. I think that will help him as a coach. Modern day cricket is about adapting to the conditions, and I feel that he has been really good. Straight forward guy. The last two days have been really good, and I am sure the more time I spent with him, I will get to know him even better,” Dhoni said before signing off. 

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