After leading Team India to the semi-final of the World Cup and taking Chennai Super Kings to the final of IPL 2015, MS Dhoni is back in the Indian camp for the three-ODI series in Bangladesh.
Speaking ahead of the first match in Mirpur on Thursday, Dhoni had no qualms in admitting that India will have to put their best foot forward against the hosts who have improved their one-day game by leaps and bounds.
“We will feature the best XI. Bangladesh are a very good ODI team; they have been playing ODI cricket for a long time now,” Dhoni said. “Also, with the advent of T20 cricket, it gives the guys a bit more exposure and the knowledge of when to take calculated risk and when to back off. A Test match is played over a period of five days and you need to be more consistent. With experience they will improve in that format as well.”
Dhoni said Bangladesh’s recent rise in ODI cricket, which saw them make the quarter finals of the World Cup, stems from their strong domestic structure.
“The domestic structure is crucial to a national team’s strength and the new players coming up in Bangladesh have done well with the opportunities they have been given,” the Indian captain said.
With respect to his own team, Dhoni said an area he believed needed more consistency is at the No. 6 and 7 slots.
“The top four-five batsmen in our current lineup, if they are fit and in decent form over the years, they might go into the next World Cup and the Champions Trophy,” Dhoni said. “Where we need to improve is with our lower middle-order, particularly No. 6 and 7.
“In the last year and a half our bottom order hasn’t had too many opportunities to bat, especially in the subcontinent, where our top-order has done a remarkable job. It gets difficult for these guys to be more consistent with the bat because an opportunity where they have to score 50-60 runs comes once in 15-20 games.
“All in all, we need a scenario where players are competing for those 6 and 7 slots because if you are playing with four bowlers, 90 per cent of the time your No. 7 has to bowl 10 overs for you.”
Talking about the crucial No. 7 position, Dhoni said it is where R Ashwin can come in really handy, especially in the five-day format. He praised the off-spinner for the improvement he has shown in his all-round game in the last year and a half.
“Ashwin has shown improvement,” the captain said. “You play in all different conditions in the world and you try to do different things. It is important to learn something new with every game and I feel Ashwin has done that well.
“He is a thinking cricketer; he thinks about his game a lot, and that is why he has shown a lot of improvement. It is good to have somebody like him because he can bat as well and in modern cricket runs from your lower order are very important.”
