M.S. Dhoni

Sydney: Mahendra Singh Dhoni made it clear on Saturday that he would leave no stone unturned to beat Australia in their penultimate league encounter at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday. The victory would provide India with a chance to test their bench strength in their last game against Sri Lanka before the finals.

The following are excerpts

We have not decided on the combination yet. You can afford to play five bowlers if your batsmen are performing well. We will see the wicket in the morning and decide.

If playing an extra batsman is an option

Most of the time we play with four bowlers and one part-timer. As you saw in the nets today, all the batsmen turned their arms over. If you have options it’s always better because any bowler can go for runs.

The batsmen’s performance

We are doing well in bits and pieces. If we can be consistent that will be really good.

The reason behind Dinesh Karthik keeping at nets

I bowl when I get the time. When the lower-order batsmen come in to bat at nets they don’t have medium fast bowlers or gentle fast bowlers bowling, that’s the time I can help.

His batting

As long as you’re getting runs you are happy. It doesn’t matter if you are getting them in boundaries or singles and that’s very important. I play according to the situation and the demands of the game.

The length of the tournament

As long as you don’t get injured it is fine. But if you hurt yourself, recovery is a problem. Every game is important in the tournament which has been open till now. You can’t probably take rest in between. And at times, it gets tough but you have to make those decisions at a certain point of time. Yeah, if I get a little time to relax that would be great.

The experiment with the youngsters in the batting order

I don’t think we are pretty much sure about the pattern or the slots in which they will bat. But we are doing a few things with the batting order… One of the good things is that they have adapted themselves. We have had openers who have batted at Nos.3 or 6 or 7. That really helps you in a way.

The importance of Sunday’s match

Every game is important especially when you are playing the top rated team in the world. Our bowlers are doing well. If we can get them out for a low or a mediocre score it will be great. It’s one of the games in which we have to give our best. It’s very important to win the game tomorrow and seal the spot. It will take a bit of pressure off the players ahead of the last game. That also gives us the liberty to play other batsmen who may be in good nick but haven’t got a chance to play so far.

Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds’s lack of form

More than concentrating on the key batsmen, it would be great if we can get regular breakthroughs like our bowlers have been doing so far. That’s because potentially every batsman in the side is capable of being a match-winner. More than concentrating on Ponting or Symonds or Matthew Hayden, we have to take regular wickets.

Dropping players like Virender Sehwag

It’s all part and parcel of the game. It’s easier to spot a few things after a game but difficult to judge the conditions and decide on your combination before the game. We try and get things right by discussing and come out with the best.

The worst is that only 11 guys can play. Everybody wants to play and is crucial for the side but it is difficult for the skipper to take a decision. If you play four bowlers there is no question of dropping Virender Sehwag, but when you stick to five bowlers it’s a question of who you drop.

Yuvraj Singh’s return to form

Yuvraj coming to form is a good sign. Players like Yuvraj and Sehwag at the top of the order give you a boost as they score at least with a strike rate of 100 per cent. They are good runners too, and ease pressure off the middle order.

Low scoring matches

The batsmen have struggled in most of the games and it is hard to pin point the cause. May be the bowlers are doing very well or may be there is something in the wicket… There’s something for the bowlers in these wickets, which get a bit slower making it difficult for the batsmen. The new ball is doing a bit and if you lose early wickets, which has been common in this series, it is difficult to recover and get a big score.

Sachin Tendulkar’s form

Sachin is great. He has got 16,000 runs, we have not even played 16,000 balls. He is one of the players who can get back with a bang and be a match-winner.