Skipper MS Dhoni (left) has backed Duncan Fletcher to stay on a India’s coach.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni insisted coach Duncan Fletcher was “still the boss” ahead of the forthcoming one-day series in England despite the upheaval in the tourists’ backroom staff.
England’s 3-1 win over India in the five-Test series saw Dhoni’s men suffer innings defeats in the final two matches. That led Indian officials to bring in former all-rounder Ravi Shastri to “oversee” the team during a five-match one-day series starting in Bristol today.
Meanwhile, fielding and bowling coaches Trevor Penney and Joe Dawes were both given a “break”. One-day world champions India defend their title in Australia and New Zealand early next year and Dhoni was adamant Fletcher would be in charge for that competition, even though the former England boss has overseen two losing Test tours of England with India. following a defeat in 2011.
But the Zimbabwean was also in charge when India beat hosts England in last year’s Champions Trophy final at Birmingham’s Edgbaston ground. “Definitely, Duncan will lead us into the World Cup ... he is still the boss,” Dhoni told reporters in Bristol, south-west England, yesterday.
“We have Ravi, who will look into everything, but Duncan Fletcher is the boss. It’s not as if his powers or his position have been curtailed ... still operations remain the same. We have a few other support staff who come into the dressing room, but overall the operation remains the same,” the wicketkeeper-batsman added.
Asked about Shastri’s role, Dhoni said: “He is here to oversee the operations,” he added. “He is a very proud India cricketer, and at the same time very positive. He believes a lot in fighting and having the right instincts ... giving 100 percent. He also speaks the same language, and can interact a lot with the players.”
Meanwhile, Dhoni said he expected England to pose more of a threat now that dynamic batsman Alex Hales had been brought in to open alongside skipper Alastair Cook. “He is a fantastic batsman. He is a tall guy so he has a different reach,” Dhoni said of Hales. “He also plays the spinners well. It will be a good acquisition for the English side.”
As for what India needed to do following their Test humbling, Dhoni said: “We have to stand up, take responsibility and back each other up. “That will change the tough times we have had to successful times.”
New opening partner no worry for captain Cook
Meanwhile, Cook does not expect his role in the one-day set-up to change should he find himself opening alongside Hales rather than Ian Bell. Concerns have been expressed that a combination of Cook and Bell, whose one-day strike rate is 76, means England routinely make too slow a start with the bat in the 50-over game.
But there are hopes Hales can be the man to make sure England make the most of the field restrictions in the opening overs given his strike-rate of close to a 100. However, Cook said yesterday: “I don’t think it changes my role. The job of the top four or five is to try and score a hundred, and win the game by setting up the game. You have to try and do it in your way. I have got to convert starts into scores. That’s the job of an opener. When you win one-day matches, it’s a common theme one of the top four or five has scored a hundred.”
He added: “It’s nice to know we’ve got different options, and we’ll look at them over the next few months. So that when we come to the World Cup, we’re very clear on what we think our best side will be.”
Turning to India, who beat England in last year’s Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston, Cook said: “A change of format will obviously do them good. It’s not quite the same groundhog day for them, probably. We’ve got to remember they’re world champions at 50 overs, so they obviously know what they’re doing and will probably go into this as favourites. But if we play well, we’re hard to beat in our conditions.”