MS DHONI: HARDIK PANDYA CAN BE THE THIRD SEAMER FOR INIDA IN THE ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY 2017

Indian Captain MS Dhoni was mighty pleased with the team performance and result against the Kiwis in the 1st ODI played at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.

Virat Kohli once again was the showman of the game, scoring 85* runs and finishing the match with a six. Dhoni know for his out of the box captaincy as he handed the new ball to the debutant Hardik Pandya rather than his strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah. The move eventually came out triumphs for the team, as Pandya gets a wicket in his very first over of the game.

“Our thinking was to use him as one of the three seamers and to give him a chance to exploit the new ball. The reason being we all felt he is quite deceptive. He can bowl quick. He has got movement and can swing the ball even on wickets where some other bowlers don’t get that kind of swing. He is somebody who can get some purchase of the wicket,” said by MS Dhoni

He added that Bumrah is very capable to ball in the death overs and with the old ball, so he was saving his overs to use him at any point of the match. “Also, Bumrah is very good in the middle overs where he can give me wickets and also at the death. So if I can save his overs, I can use him at any point of time”

MS Dhoni praised Hardik Pandya for his amazing bowling performance, as Hardik also picked up the Man of Match on his debut. He praised Haridik for his ability to swings the balls on the pitch where others failed.  If he can perform like this, he can be the third seamer for India, he is an exceptional fielder and he also can swing his bat hard. Dhoni said the team is looking to build for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and India has only 8 ODI matches before that. Dhoni feels it’s the high time to do some experiments and get the best out of the team.

“We wanted to give him a go with the new ball. We just have 8 matches before Champions Trophy. So, we would like to see how he reacts under different conditions and situations. How quickly he can adapt to the conditions. If he keeps on performing like what he did today, I don’t see why we won’t pick him as the first of the three fast bowlers,” said MS Dhoni.

India will play 5 ODIs against New Zealand and will host Engalnd for 3 ODIs in January 2017