Brisbane track doesn’t bother Dhoni
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni claims to be unconcerned by his side's record in Brisbane, ahead of the start of the second Test against Australia there on Wednesday.
The Aussies have a formidable record at the ‘Gabba and have not lost a Test match there since the Viv Richards-led West Indies team triumphed by nine wickets in 1988.
In their five previous matches there, India have yet to record a win, but under Saurav Ganguly in 2003 – their previous match in Brisbane – the claimed a credible draw.
"Yes, if you talk about stats, it is but on the fastest wickets India have won Test matches there, whether it's Johannesburg, Durban or Perth," Dhoni, who will be playing in his first match in Brisbane this week, said ahead of the start of the match.
"It is a new challenge for the young fellows and they will learn a lot and hopefully stand up and perform.
"More often than not I prefer wickets that are slightly on the greener side.
"The reason being that our bowlers become much more effective and the batsmen will have to formulate a way to get runs on that kind of wicket.
"More often that we have done well on wickets that have helped the fast bowlers because it makes our job slightly easier to get the opposition batsmen out
.
"That's where we have struggled in the last two or three series, we have been in positions to win Test matches but we have not been able to capitalise on that."
Dhoni missed the series opener last week but has recovered from a thumb injury and will be leading the side once again this time around.
Nevertheless, Dhoni was full of praise for stand-in skipper Virat Kohli, who scored twin centuries in Adelaide in Australia's 48-run victory there in the series opener.
"He has been fantastic, not only as a batsman, but also a leader," Dhoni said of Kohli.
"He is an aggressive character, he's slightly different to what I am, but you don't want all the the individuals to captain the same way because then you miss the character of the individual."
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