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Dhoni may prefer two spinners for T20 WC matches
Two spinners seems to be Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's choice for the ICC World Twenty20 matches.
London:
Two spinners seems to be Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's choice for the ICC World Twenty20 matches if his team selection for the warm-up game against New Zealand is any indication.
Both Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha were allowed to bowl their maximum overs and it also wasn't too difficult to gauge who would be his fast-bowling options after yesterday's game.
Among the seven bowlers used, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan bowled 10 overs between them. Put into mix with Harbhajan and Ojha's eight overs, it made for 18 of 20 overs between these five men, most likely India's bowling line-up in the first game against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
With Zaheer Khan almost certain to miss the opening game, it's time for methodical Dhoni to pick up his best men for the party.
Spinners increasingly have taken Dhoni's fancy and not without reason as he saw and shaped from close quarters the success of off-spinner Suresh Raina and Shadab Jakati for his Chennai Super Kings in the recent IPL.
Brutish sun of the last two month in this part of the world has obviously taken it's toll on the pitches as was evident at Lord's on Monday when batsmen had to jump out of their crease to meet the ball on the full.
It's apparent that the short gap between the IPL and approaching ICC World Twenty20 has been used well by Dhoni and his thinktank for all these five bowlers bring something different to the table in terms of variety.
Harbhajan and Ojha are different bowlers in style but share the common virtue of economy, as underlined by 22 and 34 runs in the runs column of their bowling figures.
RP Singh and Irfan Pathan are both left-arm pacers but the Uttar Pradesh left-hander can dig the ball in while the Baroda allrounder uses swing as his main artillery.
Ishant Sharma brings pure pace to the mix and after a rather disappointing IPL, his return to form with figures of 4 for 25 would have pleased his captain no ends.
Both Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha were allowed to bowl their maximum overs and it also wasn't too difficult to gauge who would be his fast-bowling options after yesterday's game.
Among the seven bowlers used, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan bowled 10 overs between them. Put into mix with Harbhajan and Ojha's eight overs, it made for 18 of 20 overs between these five men, most likely India's bowling line-up in the first game against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
With Zaheer Khan almost certain to miss the opening game, it's time for methodical Dhoni to pick up his best men for the party.
Spinners increasingly have taken Dhoni's fancy and not without reason as he saw and shaped from close quarters the success of off-spinner Suresh Raina and Shadab Jakati for his Chennai Super Kings in the recent IPL.
Brutish sun of the last two month in this part of the world has obviously taken it's toll on the pitches as was evident at Lord's on Monday when batsmen had to jump out of their crease to meet the ball on the full.
It's apparent that the short gap between the IPL and approaching ICC World Twenty20 has been used well by Dhoni and his thinktank for all these five bowlers bring something different to the table in terms of variety.
Harbhajan and Ojha are different bowlers in style but share the common virtue of economy, as underlined by 22 and 34 runs in the runs column of their bowling figures.
RP Singh and Irfan Pathan are both left-arm pacers but the Uttar Pradesh left-hander can dig the ball in while the Baroda allrounder uses swing as his main artillery.
Ishant Sharma brings pure pace to the mix and after a rather disappointing IPL, his return to form with figures of 4 for 25 would have pleased his captain no ends.
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