Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Team India get the timing right

Team India get the timing right
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SPECIALCORRESPONDENT on 20 February, 2008 09:22:00
 
Calcutta: Team India’s two-wicket win at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday not
only boosted their chances of making the best-of-three tri-series finals, but
ensured that the players’ auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL)
didn’t get under way hours after yet another defeat.
The eight franchise owners could’ve been severely embarrassed putting
thousands of dollars on a bunch of non-performers.
The IPL auction, a buzz-creating first, is slated to begin in Mumbai at 11.00am
and could continue for as long as 12 hours.
As it turned out, the two who wouldn’t have lost a cent — captain
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and vice-captain Yuvraj Singh — are the ones who
played the biggest hand in beating Sri Lanka.
Just about one may say, but the bottomline is that we got four points.
Given that The Telegraph’s sources have confirmed Dhoni and Yuvraj have
been at the forefront of the let’s-move-forward-with-youngsters-only
drive, they actually helped score another point too.
Indeed, soon after Yuvraj walked in (three down for 35), a section of the
turnout began displaying an emotional banner: ‘Old is Gold — Dada,
Dravid, Laxman — Bring them back in the ODIs’.
Another loss and more such banners would’ve begun to surface.
It was two years ago, on the tour of Pakistan, that Dhoni and Yuvraj (both held
no position then) forged partnerships which made a difference. In Lahore, at the
National Stadium in Karachi…
There have been other contributions of note, but given the larger picture Dhoni
and Yuvraj have in mind, the one on Tuesday (no more than 59 in terms of cold
runs) will probably be significant with a capital S.
What is, of course, remarkable is that captaincy has changed Dhoni’s
approach — to batting, at least.
Dhoni hasn’t lost the skills of a finisher, rather he’s got
matured. Testimony being his unbeaten 50 at Sri Lanka’s expense.
Forget a six, Dhoni didn’t even hit a four! Moreover, he took the
singles, twos and threes despite again being bothered by cramps.
No wonder Dhoni’s getting high marks as captain.