Image courtesy of: India Today

“He’s batted too long at No 6”

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has announced that batsman Suresh Raina will be coming in to bat at number four “for a considerable period of time” due to the fact the national team lack a solid batsman in that position.

Dhoni’s comments came after India’s convincing 72-run defeat to Australia in the first ODI in Pune, where Raina scored 39 runs at the number four spot before being caught out off the bowling of James Faulkner.

“As of now what we want is for Suresh to bat at No 4 for a considerable period of time,” Dhoni said. “It’s only Yuvraj Singh who we have got and if he is in good form and we go till the World Cup without anything happening, then he will bat there. But if he doesn’t, all of a sudden we can’t say we do not have a No 4 batsman.

“All the other slots, we have players and we even have replacements. But apart from Yuvraj, I don’t see anybody who has batted 50 ODIs at No 4. That can be a concern and we will have to rectify that from this point. No point going too late and then saying we don’t have time to do anything.”

Dhoni noted that Raina has such an aggressive mindset since he is used to playing the role of a finisher.

The Indian captain also added that Raina had batted at the number six spot for “too long”.

“We will have to give him some kind of experience at No 4,” Dhoni said. “He’s batted too long at No 6. That is why sometimes you see these instinctive shots, when the batsman sees and goes after them. It is very important that he uses these opportunities well. Then we’ll have two batsmen who have a fair amount of exposure at No 4.”