http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 uncertain about playing five bowlers during Super Eights – Cricket News Update
Despite having pulled off a resounding 90-run win over England during their final ICC World Twenty20 2012 Group A match, with 5 specialist bowlers in the attack, captain MS Dhoni is reluctant to confirm whether India will retain the same strategy as they
head into the Super Eights stage of the ongoing tournament.
“I am not sure at the moment, we will have to look into it,” he said when asked about whether he planned to play 5 specialist bowlers again.
Coming into the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Ashwin-c2228 and Harbhajan
Singh, alongside three pacers.
However, the combination drew mixed results – while India went on to win their first warm-up match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 by a margin of 5 wickets.
As a result, India reverted to their previous line-up featuring 4 specialist bowlers once the tournament kicked off, employing Ashwin as the sole spinner (supported by part-timers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Irfan-Pathan-c1601, and Lakshmipathy
Balaji, for their match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745.
The team won the match by a close margin of 23 runs, and Dhoni went on to experiment with the line-up during the match against England (a dead rubber, with both teams having already secured their spot in the Super Eights), played on September 23 at the R
Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Harbhajan was brought back into the line-up to form a specialist spin duo with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Piyush-c82317 Chawla (with 3 pacers already in the XI), and both bowlers launched a fierce attack which left the English batsmen reeling. Harbhajan, coming back to the team after a hiatus
which lasted more than a year, claimed 4 for 12 (the best bowling figures by an Indian bowler in the T20 format), while Chawla claimed 2 for 13. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 were all out by 80 – their lowest total in the format as yet.
The recent performances give http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 plenty of options as they look to finalise an XI for the upcoming matches, but skipper Dhoni claimed the “problem of plenty” did not bother him. He also added that playing 5 specialist bowlers was not a confirmed strategy,
and the final XI would depend on a host of factors.
“We have a problem of plenty at the moment but I am happy with it. Playing eleven in the next match will definitely be a difficult decision that we will have to make,” Dhoni said. “A lot will depend on what the conditions are and what our strategy would
be. A lot of factors will have to be looked into.”
India's next match, in the Super Eights stage of the tournament, is due to be played on September 28 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
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