Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the winning captain, recognised that it was the bowling that had won them the cup
S Rajesh in Johannesburg24-Sep-2007
Mahendra Singh Dhoni played down the praise for his captaincy and attributed the success to his players for responding to the challenges © Getty Images
India started off in this tournament as a strong batting team, but it wastheir bowling that bailed them out more than once. Mahendra Singh Dhoni,the winning captain, recognised that it was the bowling that had won themthe cup.”On paper the batting was much stronger,” Dhoni said. “But the way thebowlers bowled was very good, and if you compare the two, our bowling wasmuch more consistent. Though there were a few good individual battingperformances, the bowling was better through the tournament.” That, hesaid, was also a reason why he chose to bat first on most occasions afterwinning the toss. “The idea was to get a decent score and then try todefend it. Our fielding helped too. We effected a run out in almost everygame. When the total is relatively low – only around 150-155 – run outsand good fielding increases the total by 15-20 runs, and we managed to dothat in most of the games.”Dhoni’s captaincy has come in for plenty of praise, but he chose to playit down, instead praising the players for responding to the challenges.”The captain hasn’t done much. The players who have been given theresponsibility have delivered. There was no [top order] batsman who hadn’t scored runs,the fielding had been very good overall. Yuvraj [Singh] has been very good, whileHarbhajan has made a very good comeback. The best part is everything whohas been given the responsibility has delivered. This side is confident,enjoying each other’s success and backing each other.”Dhoni admitted that he was concerned about Misbah-ul-Haq’s late charge,but said he knew they were only a wicket away from wresting the initiativeagain. “We knew they didn’t have wickets in hand. Pressure becomes a veryimportant aspect in big games. Harbhajan Singh was good though he wentfor a few, Joginder [Sharma] was excellent in the last over. But I always thoughtas the game approached the final stages, our chances would increase.”About the decision to bowl Joginder instead of Harbhajan in the finalover, Dhoni said it was prompted by the form on the day. “That was thebest option available. Harbhajan didn’t bowl his last over very well. Ithought if a medium pacer bowls it would be slightly difficult sinceMisbah was timing it very well against Harbhajan, who was also not 100%sure about his yorkers. And Joginder had had a decent spell till in thematch, so I decided to go with him.” The practice sessions were planned such that we were always fresh when we took the field for a match Dhoni admitted that the number of runs they had wasn’t a par score, andpraised Pakistan’s effort in the field. “In Durban it was a lot moredifficult for batting – 170-180 was a very good total there. Here Ithought we should have got 180, as the wicket was not very difficult. Butthe way they bowled was really good. After 12 overs they bowled someexcellent yorkers, so you could hardly score off them.”He also had a special word for Rohit Sharma’s 16-ball 30, which lifted theIndian total to 157. “Rohit’s innings was critical. We looked like getting140, but we ended up getting more than 150. The confidence level went upand with our fielding we increased the target further to 170-175.”Looking back at the tournament, he said the way the team planned thepractice sessions and the periods of rest was critical. “There was atwo-and-a-half month tour to England, so it was tough on the players. Theway we planned this tournament was very important. The practice sessionswere planned such that we were always fresh when we took the field for amatch.”The Indians didn’t practice before the final, despite playing at avenue where they’d played only once before in the tournament.