Dhoni lauds ‘aggressive’ Ashwin

Dhoni lauds ‘aggressive’ Ashwin

MS Dhoni’s processes and plans worked to clockwork precision on Sunday as Chennai stormed to the ACLT20 title.

By Rajarshi Gupta in Johannesburg

His trademark shot to the fence helped the Chennai Super Kings win the Airtel CL T20 but MS Dhoni remained and as cool and collected as ever- even as the rest of his team went wild with frenzy. And why not- they had achieved a double within the space of months- the IPL and now the conquest in South Africa- a conquest that obviously came on the back of some strong planning.

The calm Dhoni exuded after hitting the winning runs in a packed Wanderers, three years after he had led India to the World T20 championship reflected how he looked at the final on Sunday. “We stick to processes and if we stick to them, we will end up on the winning side,” is something Dhoni often says. Sunday evening was an example of what exactly he means. There is nothing copybook in his cricket or captaincy but there certainly is a clever method to all his ‘Midas touches.’

The turning point of the match was easy to spot. Warriors skipper Davy Jacobs was in the midst of another blitz, Doug Bollinger and Alibe Morkel were under heavy fire and Chennai looked like they needed to chase down a massive total till it happened. R Ashwin, the eventual Man of the Series and the highest wicket taker of the tournament, trapped Jacobs in front of the wickets. Few had expected the fiery opener to go down without a major assault on Chennai’s spinners but Dhoni had done his homework well.

“The Warriors got off to a perfect start, the kind of start needed in the final of a big tournament like this. But we all knew the spinners' spell would be the key feature.

“We knew that the Warriors would have been expecting Ashwin in early, like always. He got the wicket of Davy Jacobs at the end of the sixth over and after that we were able to put some pressure on their batting," Dhoni said.

The India skipper, who might have just led the Super Kings for the last time (what with the fresh auctions coming up in November), had a different role for his spinners.

“We wanted the spinners to bowl in the middle stages because we don’t have a lot of bowlers who can take the pace off the ball. That would have hampered our chances of winning.”

That was actually a masterstroke. It wasn’t until the sixth over that the skipper brought on the more successful bowler of the tournament despite the two pacers being treated with disdain. Coming on for the last over of the power play meant Ashiwn would always be under pressure from a set batsman, who was looking to use the field restrictions to the hilt. The offie kept his cool and delivered, in the process, earning accolades from his captain.

“Ashwin is an aggressive character and is always up for a challenge. He is always ready to bowl and is a very smart character. He has a lot of variations and knows what field he wants to bowl to. He really doesn’t need much guidance on the field,” Dhoni said.

Dhoni was also effusive in his praise for L Balaji who, with Ashwin and Muttiah Muralitharan restricted the Warriors in the middle stages.

“Also let's not forget the bowling spell of Balaji. "That was also important to keep the pressure on from both sides and we saw how his spell allowed for Murali and Ashwin to get wickets."

Warriors skipper Davy Jacobs admitted that his team was outfoxed by Chennai’s spinners and that they weren’t good enough to handle them.

“The two spinners tied us down and our batsmen did not play them well. That was the game,” Jacobs said, hardly betraying any emotion after losing a big ticket final infront of a massive home crowd.

The Super Kings lorded over the Bull Ring Sunday night and there was no mistaking where the campaign had started- in that sharp mind Dhoni keeps handy. Talk of sticking to processes.

Courtesy: ESPN.COM