In all praise for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s former captain Sourav Ganguly said that Dhoni’s record in ODIs is remarkable but as for Test cricket, one is hopeful he’ll do better in series’ overseas. “India have lost nine of their last 10 Tests overseas and Dhoni was the captain in all but one. He’s a much better captain than what those figures suggest... He’s honest and, clearly, has set high standards. What I like about Dhoni is that he goes about his job without fuss. Win or lose, he reacts in much the same way,” Ganguly said to Calcutta Telegraph.
Meanwhile Dhoni has ruled out experimenting too much with his settled team in the series against New Zealand but said the five-match rubber should serve as a good exposure to some of his players before the World Cup.
According to a report in Deccan Chronicle, since Yuvraj Singh is not in the side, there is question mark over the number four spot in the batting order. Dhoni was non-committal about Suresh Raina coming up the order, a role he did not perform with much success against Australia in October.
"We will see what suits us best and then we will move ahead. As of now, after the Greg Chappell era, experimentation is something we have done away with. We don't really change too many things anymore. We will give chances to a few players and hopefully they will rise up to the occasion and accept the challenges that they are pushed into," Dhoni said ahead of the series-opener tomorrow.
A report in India Today website quotes Dhoni saying that the series would be a good for experience since the World Cup will be hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand. "It's good exposure for our players who have not played in New Zealand before. In the bowling department particularly, there are some new additions to the squad. Wind will be a factor here and when you are exposed to different conditions, you work hard on your game.
"So it will be a good experience for them. In turn, it will be good for the team because we will have players who have already played in these conditions and particularly at venues where we will be playing the 2015 World Cup. So it should be a good tour for us," said the Indian captain.
