India might have been unbeaten so far at ICC World Cup 2015 but captain MS Dhoni is not happy about one player in the team. And he has made it clear that he has to improve and perform on the field.
The player in question is left-handed all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Dhoni, speaking after India’s 4-wicket victory over West Indies yesterday (March 6), said Jadeja was talented and he needs to step up in the remaining matches.
The skipper is in particular disappointed with Jadeja’s batting. The left-hander has scores of 3, 2 and 13 against Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies respectively.
When the team was in a spot of bother yesterday, Jadeja failed to give Dhoni company at the crease. He perished for 13 and the captain finished the job with R Ashwin at the other end.
“No, I think he (Jadeja) needs to improve. He needs to step up really because we have a lot of faith in him, but at the end of the day you can’t really play with hope. What you want is actually performance on the field,” Dhoni said about Jadeja in the post-match press conference at the WACA ground.
Dhoni said Jadeja had talent and praised for having got three triple hundreds in first-class cricket.
“He has that capability. You don’t get three triple hundreds in India just because you know how to bat. He’s definitely talented, but he needs to keep believing in himself. Every batsman is tested in a few areas.
“They will bowl short-pitched deliveries to him. He will have to find a way in which he can tackle it because every batsman tackles it in a different way. So he’ll have to find a way, what he can really do,” Dhoni explained.
If Jadeja continues to fail with the bat, there is another left-hand all-rounder – Axar Patel waiting to replace him. However, Dhoni is likely to persist with Jadeja because of his spin bowling.
“The problem is that the side looks better when we play with two spinners. Even though Jadeja is not performing really well as a batsman, but he still gives you that comfort if he is at numbers 6 or 7, one of the slots, it looks like a slightly better side.
“We also have to keep in mind the slower rate because a lot of people dig into the stats. Someone told me whenever we have played with four fast bowlers, 90 per cent of the time we lose and 100 per cent of the time the captain gets banned,” he said.
India, unbeaten in four matches so far, will face Ireland in their next match in Hamilton on March 10 (6.30 AM IST start).
