Batsmen have to do well: Dhoni by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:	MS Dhoni
Event:	Australia in India 2009/10

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DateLine: 5th November 2009

 

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that his front-line batsmen need to to fire in unison if India are to win the fifth ODI.

 

"Top order batsmen need to bat well and not rely on lower order batsmen. If you are playing with seven batsmen, it's better to get a big score from six of them rather than using the seventh who we call as a backup batsman, especially when you are chasing," the Indian captain said.

 

"If one of the top-order batsmen gets a big score it becomes easy for us as others can rotate around him. If we have a good start we can get on to a big score so as to dictate terms and play according to your pace," said Dhoni at the match-eve press conference.

 

Dhoni had squarely blamed his batsmen for India not being able to chase the modest target of 250 at Mohali. The loss there helped the tourists draw level 2-2 in the best-of-seven rubber.Dhoni spoke about Ravindra Jadeja as a bowling all-rounder at number seven.

 

"He's (Ravindra Jadeja) filling in the space of bowling all-rounder. He's bowling really well. His batting also is important."

 

The Indian skipper did not agree n fingers pointing on Sachin Tendulkar and said the champion batsman who is just seven runs short of 17,000 ODI runs, should not be put under pressure.

 

"Whenever Sachin goes out to bat there are so much of expectations and responsibility. He's done it for 20 years. Whenever he goes in we expect him to score big, but at the same time we don't want him to bat under pressure," he said.

 

With the series tied on 2-2, Dhoni said every match was crucial for the outcome of the series.

 

"When it became 1-1, I said it's like a five-game series. Now we can see it as a three-game series. Every game is important now. It's important not to have an off day. As the number of games gets reduced there's no time to recover. Every game, every hour is important for both the sides," he said.