How to win or draw a Test in SA? Dhoni has a few ideas

Chennai, January 19

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the former India captain, knows a thing or two about “looking for positives”. Dhoni had led the Indian team to the No. 1 spot in Tests for the first time ever in late 2009, after four consecutive series wins at home. After that India drew a Test series in South Africa and won one in West Indies. But they were brought crashing down to earth by 4-0 whitewashes in England (2011) and Australia (2011-12). Poor Dhoni was left helpless as his big guns like Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar began to shoot blanks. In such dismal times, he was forced to look for “positives”.

He’s looking at the positives in the defeat of Virat Kohli’s men in South Africa as well. He’s aware that though being competitive for protracted periods, India were never really in with a realistic chance to win in Cape Town or Centurion. He suggests that with better batting, they could have secured a draw or two.

20 wickets!

“I would say look at the positives,” Dhoni said today when asked about India’s horror show. “To win a Test match you need 20 wickets and we have taken 20 wickets. If you can’t take 20 wickets, what is the next thing? You look to draw a Test match. How you can draw a Test match is by giving less runs and by scoring runs.”

“If you are not able to get 20 wickets, you can’t win a Test match irrespective of whether you are playing in India or you are playing outside,” he continued. “But that is the big positive. We are taking 20 wickets. This means we are always in a position to win a Test match. Once you start scoring runs, you are there.”

It never happened for Dhoni in countries such as England and Australia, though India did win one Test under him in South Africa. Kohli’s team seems to have the right resources, but they’d have to play out of their skins to secure a face-saving win in the third Test.  — TNS, agencies