Dhoni: Important to have more all-rounders

Cricket365
January 29, 2016

India T20 skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he was pleased to have a few all-rounders in his line up, and was happy to have batsmen who can bowl a bit, rather than the other way around.

India beat Australia by 37 runs in the first T20 on Tuesday, with Virat Kohli's half century putting enough runs on the board, and then India's death bowling preventing the Aussies from reaching the 189 required.

Hardik Pandya, on debut, had a nightmare with the ball, conceding 19 runs in his first over and bowling a string of wides. His batting is his stronger suit, and Dhoni said that he liked having a slew of bowlers to pick up the slack.

Dhoni said after the match: "Allrounders are important. If Hardik doesn't bowl me four overs in every game; even if he gives two overs or three overs, I can still use others.

"What I don't want is top five or top six batters, including the keeper, where you don't have a bowling option. If somebody goes for runs, you don't really know what to do.

"In this format, you will have bowlers going for runs. At that time, you want your part-time allrounders to come in and give you that one over because that one over can help.

"We will wait and watch how it goes. I think it's important to have players like Yuvraj Singh who can bowl and bat, Suresh Raina, who can bowl and bat.

"Because if you have too many one-dimensional players in your top order it becomes really difficult when someone has a bad day."

Of Hardik's debut, Dhoni added: "When it comes to international cricket it is all about handling the pressure.

"Once you are given the ball, there is some pressure on you because it's your first game and you don't know what kind of bounce is there or what kind of pace is there. There would be some kind of pressure.

"After the first over I knew the second over would be better. I was happy with the second and third over. Still he [Pandya] will have to be more consistent with line and length.

"That will give me a lot of confidence to consistently play him as the third seamer when the need arises."