Journey to the top

Dhoni feels the team is shaping up well under skipper Virat Kohli and the fact that all the Indian fast bowlers are fit and doing well will hold the team in good stead in the upcoming Test matches. 

“I think the Indian Test team is shaping up well. It seemed we were more settled in T20 and ODI but now our team had a good batting experience. If you notice, for the last two and a half years, we had the same batting unit, barring one or two changes. So you learn a lot. Test remains the ultimate format,” Dhoni told reporters after the second T20 match was washed out on Sunday. “On top of it, one plus point is that all our fast bowlers are fit now and the way they are bowling. We have 10 proper fast bowlers and it’s an asset. Now we will be playing a lot of matches, so we can rotate our fast bowlers if we want to,” he observed. 

Dhoni is happy that talent is now getting transformed into performance. 

“As far as performance is concerned, the talent and experience of the team are getting reflected in the performance and in the times to come. This season, we will be playing 13 Tests and I think by the end of it if everything goes well, touchwood, we will be the number one team in the world and the gap between the first and second team will be substantial,” he added. 

Coming back to the short T20 series, Dhoni said the addition of an extra spinner in Amit Mishra, which paid off. 

“I don’t think the wicket changed a lot. It was same as the last wicket. It was the exposure that they had in the last game, it gave them the ability to go back and think about their own game plan and often when there is no break between two matches, it actually helps the bowlers to quickly go back and plan,” said the 35-yearold from Ranchi.