Mumbai, January 02: On the first day of the New Year, Mahendra Singh Dhoni sprang a surprise, saying that India are in dire need of a bowling and a fielding coach to give some respite to Gary Kirsten.
Talking to the media ahead of Team India’s departure for a tri-series involving Sri Lanka and two Tests in Bangladesh, the captain admitted that there is a need for specialist coaches.
“To some extent, it does (affect the team). You need specialist coaches to get the best out of players. Gary looks after so many things. He has all those team meetings, talking to batsmen, bowlers and then working out strategies. He has a lot on his plate.
“It does help to have specialist bowling and fielding coaches for the bowlers and fielders. If the bowler has a problem in some area he can go up to the coach and consult with him. But that’s the way it is and it’s now an administrative issue,” Dhoni said.
He, however, expressed his happiness with the way 2009 went.
“We have performed well in 2009 but there were ups and downs. The youngsters utilised whatever opportunities they got. I think it was a good year for us,” he said at a five-star hotel in the city on Friday.
On 2010, the captain sounded cautious. “We have lots to play this year — IPL then the T20 World Cup. It will be great if there are no injuries. I hope we play with the strongest available side this year,” he added. India have been horrendous in the outfield in the last few matches. Even their best fielders have failed to bag the easiest of catches. Dhoni admitted that India will have to lift their fielding standards.
“We dropped quite a few catches in the last series. We will try to rectify that. Whatever good fielders we have we will try to make them the best in the world because it really helps, especially in the middle overs, with four good fielders inside the circle who can save the singles,” he said.
Even though BCCI roped in Australian Mike Young for a short stint during the recent Twenty20 and ODI series against Sri Lanka, the team is now again without a fielding coach.
Dhoni said Mike taught the basics. “Mike is not available for this tour. He came with the basic techniques and went slow as he did not want the players to get injured. He won’t be around but with the help of other support staff it’s important to go ahead. Fielding is important no matter what format we play,” Dhoni said.
India also need to improve their bowling in the death overs. Slow over rate is another problem that needs to be tackled. Dhoni was slapped with a two-match ban during the one-day series against Sri Lanka.
“We struggled early in the series but improved a lot in the later matches. We have struggled a bit in the death overs but if we can do something in patches, we can do it consistently as well. We can restrict any good side to a decent total. It’s slightly improving but I think we can manage it,” Dhoni said.
“Regarding over-rate, we have a lot of part-timers, who are mostly spinners and they can save us time. We have (Virender) Sehwag, Yuvraj (Singh), (Suresh) Raina and Rohit Sharma as well. So if we can save time up front, it is not going to be an issue,” Dhoni stated.
With Rohit Sharma returning to the side, Dhoni said it is the time for him to grab the opportunity. “He is a very talented batsman. He hasn’t got enough overs to bat on and plays as a floater. He is a team man whenever the team required him, he has stood up to bat at any position,” he added.
–Agencies