Batsmen can no longer be slugs
MS Dhoni recently said India's three senior batsmen could not play in the same XI because they concede an extra 20 runs in the field
Dustin Silgardo
25-Feb-2013
MS Dhoni recently said India's three senior batsmen could not play in the same XI because they concede an extra 20 runs in the field. The Indian Express' Sandeep Dwivedi says Dhoni is justified in saying that because runs have become easier to score in ODI cricket than stop. Indian batsmen have had a lethargic attitude since the days of Dilip Vengsarkar, he says, and just scoring centuries without contributing in the field may not be enough anymore.
The modest coach tried his best to dissuade the young cricketers from aping Vengsarkar’s non-existent pre-batting workout but it was futile. The impressionable boys had cracked the secret of “effortless” batting by watching their hero in action. Endless laps of cricket field, frog jumps or sprint sessions that their coach advocated were a waste of time, they concluded. Rolling wrists followed by a draining net session was the recipe for success at the top level. Actually that was the template Indian batsmen have followed for years.
Dustin Silgardo is a former sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo