The legendary Indian cricketer MS Dhoni expressed admiration for the kind of aggressive Test cricket being pulled off these days. At an event in Goa recently, Dhoni spoke about how teams have now changed their mindsets to look for results rather than settle for draws.
Dhoni said that cricket has changed significantly over the years. He explained, “You can give cricket any term you want, but what we have seen is that it has changed.” The former Indian captain compared some of the safe scores in ODIs a few years ago to the standards today in T20 cricket.
Dhoni says there are different ways of playing cricket; some teams prefer aggressive cricket, while others want to keep the traditional methods alive. He insisted, “You need to understand that every team has a certain strength, and games have to be tailored in such a way.” However, he also caught on with, “You can’t say, ‘Let’s start playing like this tomorrow.’ You can’t say that, because guys develop over some time.”
Dhoni also reflected on his Test experiences. He remembered how painful the last day was when a draw was almost certain. “For me, the toughest part was the fifth day when there was a 10 percent chance of a draw. I had to keep wicket for nearly two-and-half sessions, which was tiring,” he revealed. In that instant, it was like going through the motions with no outcome in sight.
He then pointed out that draws are not good for the game. “Imagine explaining to someone that we play over five days, start at 9:30 AM. And after all that time, we still don’t have a result,” he said. Dhoni praised the recent trend of more result-oriented Test matches. He further said, “Even if we play four days and lose one day to rain. We can still get a result. That is the beauty of Test cricket.”
The former Indian skipper played 90 matches for his team during his Test career from 2005 to 2014. He scored 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09 with six centuries and 33 fifties. His highest score was 224.
Closer to the announcement for IPL retention, eyes will once again be on Dhoni as to whether he plays another season or not for the Chennai Super Kings.
ANI
