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Saurashtra: Minus key players

By Alagappan MuthuWhere they finished last time
Runners-upSaurashtra will be minus Ranji veteran Shitanshu Kotak•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

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Saurashtra collared the spotlight last year as they finished among the top two teams in the tournament, and gave the national side three promising talents in Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and Jaydev Unadkat. This season, though, Saurashtra must cope with depleted resources – in addition to Pujara and Jadeja expected to be away on national duty, Shitanshu Kotak will bring his 20-year first-class career to a close after the opener against Rajasthan on October 27.”We are looking to work on our consistency,” Sheldon Jackson, their second-highest scorer from 2012-13, said. “We want to be in the top-four or five teams and if we continue playing good cricket, we can surely make that happen. We’ve had extended camps this season, played a KSCA tournament in Bangalore, and then we had a training camp as well. So preparations have been very good.”Saurashtra’s batting was quite solid, accounting for four of the top six individual scores. Though Jadeja and Pujara were responsible for three of them – all triple centuries – Jackson believes the team has other reserves to bank on. “We beat big teams like Karnataka in the quarter-final, then we won the semi-final against Punjab without Cheteshwar and Ravindra.”Unadkat and Siddharth Trivedi took on the mantle in that game, reducing Punjab from 252 for 3 to 272 for 8. However, Trivedi’s absence, banned for a year for failing to report advances made by bookies during the IPL, could prove a big blow.As will the departure of Kotak. “He was the backbone of Saurashtra’s batting for 20 years,” Jackson said. “You give him wet wickets, a turner, he has always been there, fighting it out for us.”Players to watch
Aarpit Vasavada, 24, chose an opportune setting for his highest first-class score – an unbeaten 152 to beat Karnataka in the quarter-final – and Saurashtra will hope his performance from last season (599 runs in nine matches) is only the beginning.Click here for the full squad.

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Rajasthan: High to low to high again?

By Devashish FuloriaWhere they finished
After two Ranji titles in two years, Rajasthan failed to win a single match in the 2012-13 season and finished eighth in Group A, avoiding relegation by just one point.After the highs of the previous two seasons, 2012-13 was very forgettable for Rajasthan•Mahesh Acharya

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Rajasthan’s two title wins had been built on strong batting performances, with Vineet Saxena and Robin Bist leading the way. Saxena continued in similar vein last year, but Bist’s lack of form hurt the team’s batting. Another area they lacked in was the spin department, with most of their wickets coming through their trio of pacers – Pankaj Singh, Rituraj Singh and Aniket Choudhary.This year, the team has roped in former Rajasthan fast bowler Pradeep Sunderam as the head coach and have signed up Mumbai stalwart Ramesh Powar to boost their spin department. Sunderam, who has previously been a bowling coach at the Mumbai Cricket Association Academy, has said that he was working on the mental side of things with the team, with fast bowling coach Meyrick Pringle and captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar already at the helm.”This year, a camp couldn’t be organised because the players were playing different matches” Kanitkar said. “Robin Bist and Ashok Menaria, both are working hard on their batting. Robin played the Duleep Trophy and Menaria played for India A. They are both in good touch. [Seamer] Deepak Chahar was bowling well, but he has an injury on his thumb and will likely come after the second game.”Powar, 35, will likely take the role of the mentor of the young spin attack this year and with the coach confident of Bist’s form ahead of the season, Rajasthan are likely to target a top-three finish in the group. It’s not an easy group though.Key players
Vineet Saxena scores his run at a slow pace, but he was the one who was scoring all the runs for the team last season. He provides the stability for others to score around him and will again be expected to deliver in the same role. Pankaj Singh was team’s highest wicket-taker last season, with 29 wickets. He was also vocal about his desire to make the national side. With India’s bowling stocks being a perennial worry, a good season here could be important for the 28-year-old’s career revival. Kanitkar also backed Menaria, Bist and Choudhary to come good this season.Click here for the full squad.

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Railways: Seeking to beat the odds

By Abhishek PurohitWhere they finished
Railways finished fifth out of nine teams in Group A, only two points behind second and third-placed Saurashtra and Mumbai, both of whom qualified for the knockouts with 23 points. Railways didn’t lose a single game, but they conceded the first-innings lead in four of their first five matches, all drawn. They beat Rajasthan and Bengal comfortably but, in between, ceded the lead to Hyderabad, sealing another competitive but unsuccessful season.Can Karn Sharma replicate some of his IPL form for Railways?•BCCI

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As always, the challenge for a departmental side such as Railways, hamstrung by scarce funds, is to try and compete with state teams, who have access to much better facilities and other resources. Even as their first-round opponents Madhya Pradesh toured South Africa to prepare, Railways’ first priority was to find a venue to host their ‘home’ matches.Their ground, the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi, was banned for a season last year for dishing out a poor pitch against Saurashtra in December 2011. Railways were forced to shift base all the way to the East Coast Railway Sports Association ground in Bhubaneswar. The Karnail Singh turf has been relaid since, but the ground is still not ready to host games.Railways coach, and India A fielding coach, Abhay Sharma is “thankful” to the Railway Sports Promotion Board for hiring the Jamia Millia Islamia University Ground in Delhi, where his side will now play their home matches. As far as practice goes, Railways have been using a school academy ground.Abhay is honest in appraising his team’s chances. “We are a young side,” he said. “We don’t have a home ground. We don’t have practice facilities. There is not much support. Things are really tight. We will try our best but we also have to be realistic.”Having secured a ground is only the first hurdle cleared. Murali Kartik, the veteran left-arm spinner, will lead the side this season but will miss the opener against MP in Indore, having been involved in a road accident recently.Also, Railways will get the first taste of life without Sanjay Bangar, one of the foremost allrounders of all time in Indian domestic cricket, who retired at the end of last season. Apart from his 8349 first-class runs and 300 wickets, Railways will also miss a leader, a mentor and a workhorse bowler. “There is no replacement for Sanjay,” Abhay said of his former team-mate. “Great cricketer, great human being. I’ll be missing him for sure.”Key players
Along with the experience of Kartik, Railways are banking on Karn Sharma, the 26-year-old legspinning allrounder. Karn impressed with his controlled legbreaks in the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad and has a steadily improving first-class record. “He will be ready very soon for a higher grade of cricket,” Abhay said. “We have been working on him for five years. He is a complete allrounder and also a brilliant fielder.” Batting has been a worry for Railways, and men such as vice-captain Shivakant Shukla, wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat and opener Amit Paunikar will have to come good.Click here for the full squad.

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Madhya Pradesh: Will South Africa experience pay dividends?

By Rachna ShettyWhere they finished
Sixth in Group AJalaj Saxena’s all-round abilities will be key for Madhya Pradesh•Sivaraman Kitta

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The closest Madhya Pradesh came to winning the Ranji Trophy was in 1998-99 when they finished runners-up to Karnataka. They came within an inch of the knockouts last year, when they boldly chose to chase down a target of 311 against Mumbai in their penultimate group match. They fell seven runs short. Mumbai made the most of those points and went on to win their 40th Ranji title. MP finished in the lower half of the table, another middling result for the team trying.This year, MP are placed in Group B alongside last year’s finalists, Saurashtra, semi-finalists Services and former Ranji champions in Uttar Pradesh, Railways, Rajasthan, Baroda and Tamil Nadu. It’s a tough group and MP chose to prepare for this season by sending their senior team to South Africa for a tour comprising one-dayers and four-day games. Although they got to play just four matches due to weather constraints, the overseas experience, according to coach Mukesh Sahani, is slowly become a fixture in MP’s routine.”Last year we toured Sri Lanka for a short tour and this time it was South Africa,” Sahani said. “Such tours have become an important part of our preparation, as it gives young players exposure in different environments. Although two of the matches were washed out, our players had a chance to play against Graeme Smith and Justin Kemp.”This year’s squad features three first-timers: 19-year-old batsman Shubham Sharma, right-arm pacer Nikhil Sawke and batting allrounder Salman Baig. While Shubham and Sawke are yet to make their debut for Madhya Pradesh, Baig, who also bowls medium-pace, was a part of the T20 squad and played four games for MP in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy earlier this year.Players to watch
Their results may not have been consistent, but MP had star performers. Pacer Ishwar Pandey finished as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker last year, with 48 wickets from 15 innings at an average of 21.06. He will lead the MP attack once again. The batting rests on Jalaj Saxena and captain Devendra Bundela, and Udit Birla and Naman Ojha would also like to shed the ‘underachievers’ tag. Batsman Mohnish Mishra, who was banned for a year by the BCCI following a TV channel’s sting operation into alleged corruption in domestic cricket, is back this season.Click here for the full squad.

ScorecardGareth Roderick continued his impressive Championship form•Getty Images

Gareth Roderick gave another demonstration of his batting talent with a second first-class century as Gloucestershire comfortably batted out for a draw on the final day against Essex at Bristol.The young South African wicketkeeper top scored with 136 as the home side, set 432 for victory, closed on 355 for 6. Skipper Michael Klinger hit 62 and shared a second wicket stand of 137 with Roderick, who also hit a ton in the previous game against Kent.Monty Panesar ended any hope the hosts had of reaching their mammoth target by removing Klinger and Alex Gidman, and finished with 2 for 56 from 25 overs, while Reece Topley claimed 3 for 70. But the result did little for the fading promotion hopes of either club as Essex took 11 points and Gloucestershire eight.The home side began the day on 19 without loss, needing an unlikely 413 more runs for victory. Chris Dent soon signalled their positive intentions as a top-edged pull sailed for six in the opening over from Topley.Klinger survived an lbw appeal from Topley early on, but was soon flourishing and, on 21, reached 1,000 first class runs in his first full season of county cricket. By then Dent had departed for 27, with the total on 43, leg before to Topley off the final delivery of an excellent over from the left-arm seamer.After Essex had turned to spin in the shape of Panesar at one end and Greg Smith at the other Klinger launched the second six of the innings, straight back over Smith’s head.Roderick helped his captain take the score to 115 for one at lunch, with all three results still possible and both sides needing a win to keep alive genuine promotion hopes. Roderick was the first to reach his 50 off 76 balls, with seven fours. Klinger followed after facing 147 deliveries, with three fours and a six.The pair had taken the total to 180 in the 58th over when Panasar parted them by bowling Klinger, who had defied the Essex attack for three hours and 20 minutes. Alex Gidman quickly went on the attack, but had made only 9 when stumped by James Foster off Panesar with the total on 196.It was 212 for 3 at tea, with Gloucestershire having abandoned the bid for a win. The second new ball was Essex’s last hope, but by the time it was taken Gloucestershire were 294 for 3 with Hamish Marshall established as Roderick’s partner.Three late wickets did fall, but Roderick, who was dropped off a no-ball on 79 and then received a blow to the head by a delivery from Tymal Mills, reached a gutsy hundred off 157 balls, with 14 fours.

Matthew Fisher became the youngest post-war county cricketer when he was picked for Yorkshire against Leicestershire aged just 15 years and 212 days.Yorkshire were forced to turn to Fisher for their Yorkshire Bank 40 fixture at Scarborough to deal with an injury crisis that saw four teenagers make up the bowling attack. Ryan Gibson, 17, Ben Coad, 18, and 19-year-old Wilf Rhodes were also in the XI.It highlighted Yorkshire’s problems. They were forced to field a threadbare bowling attack last Sunday against Gloucestershire. Tim Bresnan is with England, Liam Plunkett and Jack Brooks have been injured and the workload Ryan Sidebottom and Steven Patterson have been forced to endure in the Championship meant they needed resting.Mercifully, Plunkett, looking very old at 28, returned from a thigh strain to face Leicestershire. But he lined up alongside a team-mate 13 years his junior.Born in York, Fisher has developed through the Yorkshire age-group teams and plays for Yorkshire Academy in the Yorkshire Premier League, where his 25 overs this season have gone for 3.48 runs an over. He has also played for Yorkshire 2nd XI and took 6 for 25 earlier this week against Leicestershire – the second-best figures for Yorkshire in the 2nd XI trophy.”Matthew deserves his call up into the squad,” Yorkshire first-team coach Jason Gillespie said. “We monitor the progress of all our players and the feedback I have received on the way Matthew has been playing has been excellent. He is very young, but he has the ability to be successful.”The youngest player to appear in a first-class match also turned out for Yorkshire when wicketkeeper Barney Gibson played against Durham MCCU at the age of 15 years and 27 days in April 2011. The aptly-named Charles Young is the youngest everto appear in a county game, for Hampshire against Kent in 1867 aged 15 years and131 days.

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O Corinthians teve uma novidade na partida contra o Ferroviário, que terminou 2 a 2 em Londrina. Da equipe que iniciou o clássico contra o Palmeiras, Vagner Love assumiu a vaga de Mateus Vital e reestreou pelo Timão. O atacante atuou perto de Gustagol, movimentou-se muito e quase deixou sua marca ainda no primeiro tempo.

Apesar de ter tido uma atuação até que boa, principalmente se levar em conta que ele não atuava desde dezembro, Vagner Love não melhorou um dos principais problemas do Corinthians neste início de temporada: a falta de profundidade no ataque.

O técnico Fábio Carille já citou essa dificuldade em alguns entrevistas. O treinador tem sofrido com a falta de jogadores de velocidade, que jogam pelos lados no ataque. Clayson estava com dores no joelho direito e ficou pela primeira vez à disposição diante do Ferroviário. Sergio Díaz também se queixava de dores no joelho direito. Romero não atuará até resolver sua situação contratual. André Luis e Gustavo Silva tiveram oportunidades, mas ainda estão “aprendendo o que é o Corinthians”, na visão de Carille.

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A esperança era de que a entrada de Love minimizasse o problema. O camisa 9 atuou mais pelo lado esquerdo do ataque e teve espaço para flutuar e aproximar-se de Gustagol. Em um dos lances, recebeu linda bola de Gustagol e finalizou por cima.

O problema, porém, é que Love não chegava à linha de fundo. Do outro lado, quem estava mais pela direita era Ramiro, que não é um jogador de características de chegar ao fundo e cruzar. Enquanto isso, Jadson recuava para iniciar as jogadas e mostrou pouca inspiração.

Escolhidos por Carille no segundo tempo, Pedrinho e Mateus Vital também têm características mais de armação do que velocidade e chegada ao fundo. A dupla pouco ajudou o Timão a manter a bola nos minutos finais da partida contra o Ferroviário, assim como Boselli, o outro que entrou na etapa final.

Ciente das faltas de profundidade e velocidade de sua equipe, Carille admite que ainda não achou a formação ideal, principalmente porque reforços estão chegando. Ele disse que espera definir em breve para os jogadores saberem o que têm que fazer em campo.

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CorinthiansFabio CarilleVagner Love

Yuvraj Singh and Unmukt Chand scored half-centuries as North Zone marched into the Deodhar Trophy final, beating Central Zone by eight wickets in a match affected by bad light and rain in Guwahati

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Mar-2013
ScorecardYuvraj Singh scored a brisk, unbeaten 77 against Central Zone in the Deodhar Trophy semi-final•Getty ImagesYuvraj Singh and Unmukt Chand scored half-centuries as North Zone marched into the Deodhar Trophy final, beating Central Zone by eight wickets in a match affected by bad light and rain in Guwahati.The match was reduced to 45 overs per side after a rain-delayed start. In the second innings, play was again interrupted by bad light and North Zone were set a revised target of 160 in 33 overs.Yuvraj and Chand made short work of the chase, taking their side past the total with more than three overs to spare, after Praveen Kumar struck early to dismiss Chandan Madan and captain Gautam Gambhir with the score at 31 for 2.Yuvraj struck up some kind of form after scoring two ducks in his last two matches against Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He scored his first runs with a boundary off Ishwar Pandey and continued in the same vein after the interruption, hitting Shrikant Wagh for four fours in the 17th over and bringing up his fifty with a boundary in the 22nd over. His 70-ball 77 included nine fours and three sixes.Chand, who struck a hundred for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final, was cautious early on, but played some attractive shots once he settled down. He was dropped on 28 after wicketkeeper Naman Ojha failed to hold on to a tough chance off Ishwar Pandey in the 19th over.Earlier, the North Zone bowlers managed to keep Central Zone in check, dismissing them for 190 in 41.5 overs. Parvinder Awana struck early to dismiss opener Amit Paunikar, while the rest of the batting line-up, which included Suresh Raina, Mohammad Kaif and Ashok Menaria, failed to convert their starts into a big innings. Raina fell for a quick 33, while Menaria and Kaif perished trying to boost the run rate. Legspinner Amit Mishra picked up three wickets for 50 runs.North Zone will play the winner of the South Zone v West Zone semi-final in the title clash of the zonal List-A tournament.

Jhulan Goswami, Beth Mooney, Nicola Carey and a whole heap of drama

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Sep-2021One of the greatest ODIs played in Australia came down to an extraordinary final over with the experienced Jhulan Goswami went up against Beth Mooney, who had produced a masterful century after the home side had been in early trouble, and Nicola Carey. Here’s how the drama unfolded49.1 Goswami to Mooney, 3 runs
Full toss, swung off the pads through midwicket and Mooney makes it back for the second…AND THERE’S AN OVERTHROW. But it means Mooney is off strike49.2 Goswami to Carey, 2 runs
Full outside leg stump, heaved into the leg side and there’s another misfield which allows the second49.3 Goswami to Carey, (no ball)
Oh dear! That’s a beamer which has clattered straight into Carey’s helmet. Of course it’s a no-ball. Main thing is Carey okay? Seems like but that was a horrendous blow49.3 Goswami to Carey, 1 bye
They steal a bye! Was very well bowled, full outside leg, Carey didn’t connect but Mooney was alert49.4 Goswami to Mooney, 1 leg bye
Moves right across outside off, tries to scoop but it’s only single towards short fine leg49.5 Goswami to Carey, 2 runs
Full outside off, dragged down towards long-on, they get back for the second! Oh boy49.6 Goswami to Carey, (no ball)
Full toss, caught at midwicket! But they are going to check for the height. What drama. India are celebrating. It’s VERY close. What will the third umpire decide? It could easily be called no-ball this. There’s some rocking and rolling here. They are still looking at this. Crazy end to the game. IT’S A NO-BALL!!!49.6 Goswami to Carey, 2 runs
Full and straight, clipped into midwicket and Mooney makes it back for the second. An extraordinary victory for Australia to keep the streak alive.

Ian Bell has admitted trying “a bit too hard” to prove himself in India after his heavily-criticised first-ball dismissal in the opening Test in Ahmedabad

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2012Ian Bell has admitted trying “a bit too hard” to prove himself in India after his heavily-criticised first-ball dismissal in the opening Test in Ahmedabad but insists he will not stop trying to attack spin bowlers in the future.Bell lofted his first ball from Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, straight to Sachin Tendulkar at mid-off the delivery after Kevin Pietersen had been dismissed and it left England in tatters at 69 for 5 replying to India’s 521 for 8 dec. He played more sensibly in the second innings, reaching 22 before being trapped lbw by Umesh Yadav, but his record in India now stands at an average of 18.36 from six Tests.”Lately I have been trying a bit too hard to show everyone I can score in India,” Bell said in his newspaper column. “I need to relax and trust my defence and know that if I spend time at the crease it will happen. I still have a lot of confidence about playing in the subcontinent, I have scored runs against Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka but India is the one place that I have not scored big and I know that is missing from my batting CV.”Maybe from previous tours to the subcontinent I was thinking to myself that I wanted to be positive and not sit back and be passive. I know I have to get the balance right. It was a bit adventurous for a first ball but if you look back over my last 30 to 40 Tests, you’ll see the amount of times that I have got off and running against spinners like that. I am not going to put the shot away but I will reassess when I use it next time.”Bell is missing the second Test, in Mumbai, having flown home to be with his newly born son, Joseph, after learning he was a father while sat at the airport. Knowing that the birth was imminent made for a tricky build-up to the series for him.”The first month in India was a weird time, I had things in the back of my mind but I was just trying to concentrate on my cricket,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I was in the best form, I wasn’t batting as well as I would’ve liked. I don’t know if that was down to everything going on, sometimes it just happens like that.”Bell now faces the situation of watching Jonny Bairstow have a chance in the No. 5 position as he spends a few days on nappy-changing duty before returning to India for the third Test in Kolkata. However, despite handing over his England place he does not have any regrets about the trip home.”On the cricketing side it’s a difficult decision to give someone an opportunity to take your place but I wanted to be here for my family and it is the best thing I have ever done and that will never change.”

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Se o ataque “quebrou o encanto” de longo período sem marcar quatro gols, a defesa do Botafogo vive uma rotina de gols sofridos. E o ajuste do setor é um dos desafios a serem cumpridos para um final feliz do time na reta final da temporada. Só de bolas na rede no primeiro ataque do rival houve nos dois últimos jogos.

– São coisas do futebol. O Zé Ricardo pede alerta toda hora. Ninguém entra para tomar gol no início. O gol contra o Bahia não serviu de aprendizado. Precisamos sofrer mais uma vez mais. É ter um pouquinho de concentração para evitarmos isso – entende Rodrigo Lindoso.

Além das partidas contra Bahia e Vitória, pela Copa Sul-Americana e pelo Campeonato Brasileiro, os números no ano preocupam. Só no Brasileirão são 36 gols sofridos – a quinta pior defesa, junta à do lanterna Paraná. O que torna ruim também o saldo na competição, possível critério de desempate.

– Sempre que tem algo que não está bom, e temos que procurar melhorar. No vestiário, conversando, tem cobrança. Queremos ver a alegria do torcedor. Sempre procuramos melhorar e isso é mais um aspecto. Temos que entrar atentos para melhorar – pede Erik.

Para aumentar a consistência da defesa, o Botafogo volta a treinar na tarde desta quarta-feira, no Estádio Nilton Santos. O local é o mesmo da partida deste domingo, contra o líder São Paulo.

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The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has rejected a complaint by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) that the Pakistan fast bowler Aizaz Cheema deliberately collided with the batsman Mahmudullah in the final over of the Asia Cup final in Mirpur on Thursday. The ACC chief Syed Ashraful Haq said it was turned down on the grounds that the incident was not formally reported by the on-field umpires.”We had received Bangladesh’s complaint but since the incident was not reported by the on-field umpires nothing can be done,” Haq told .The BCB had said it had seen video footage of the incident and would file the complaint to the ICC as well, but Haq said there was no question of taking it further.”It could have happened then and there, but since the umpires and the match-referee did not take any action then, the matter is closed,” said Haq.”I think the Bangladesh team played so well in the whole tournament. Beating India and Sri Lanka – the World Cup 2011 finalists – was no mean achievement and although they lost the final, the Bangladesh team won millions of hearts.”The incident happened during the first ball of the 50th over, when Mahmudullah tried to come back for a second run but collided with Cheema. The rules of cricket (Law 42.5) sanction a strict penalty for the fielding team if a fielder is found by the umpire to deliberately obstruct a batsman while attempting a run. Neither batsman can be dismissed (if a run-out has taken place), five penalty runs are awarded to the batting side, the delivery will not count as one in the over, the run will count even if the batsmen haven’t crossed and the batsmen can choose which of them faces the next delivery.Whether or not there was intent behind the collision is for the umpire to determine; in this case, after the players had collided, the umpire Steve Davis was seen having a word with both players. The delivery yielded a single, and in the end, Bangladesh lost by two runs.Edited by Kanishkaa Balachandran

MS Dhoni has defended the rotation policy between the three senior India openers in the triangular series, which may suggest that Gautam Gambhir might be rested for the next game despite consecutive scores in the 90s from him

Sidharth Monga15-Feb-2012MS Dhoni has defended the rotation policy between the three senior India openers in the triangular series, which may suggest that Gautam Gambhir might be rested for the next game despite consecutive scores in the 90s from him. After India tied their fourth match of the tournament, against Sri Lanka, Dhoni was asked if it made a lot of sense resting a batsman who had hit form. Dhoni’s argument remained that the youngsters should keep getting more chances.”What we want is, all the players should be fit by the time we come into the finals,” Dhoni said. “All of them should be scoring runs by that time. It’s a good exposure. Rohit [Sharma] is a very talented guy. Manoj Tiwary is on the bench. He scored in the last series that he played, so we are giving ample chances to them because these are players who, for sure, will come back to Australia once we play the next World Cup. There is no surety that some of us who are playing [will return], Sachin [Tendulkar] or Viru [Virender Sehwag] or even Gautam, all of us are 30-plus, and it’s big out-fields out here. So it’s about giving the youngsters a fair exposure as to how difficult it is or how easy it is, or how different it is to play here.”How difficult is it to rest a batsman who has scored 92 and 91 in his previous two outings? “As I said, what’s important is to get everybody going,” Dhoni said. “What may also happen is the guy who is playing all the games may get injured by the finals, and you will find someone coming in his place who has not played many games and not scored runs.”It’s a long tournament. It’s four games against each opposition before the finals. The first series that I played was three games against Bangladesh, so this is equivalent to three series and then the finals. It’s a very demanding tournament, in the sense that the out-fields are very big, the batsmen put pressure on you, you can get injured at any time. If you are looking to save that one run and you are in a bad position to throw, you may get injured. We want all the guys to be fit, and at the same time for the youngsters to get exposure by the start of the finals… if we reach the finals.”Moreover, Dhoni said, India could afford to experiment a bit now that they have had a decent start to the tournament, winning two and tying one of their first four matches. “The interest of the team comes first,” he said. “This is the time when we can really look to do that [experiment], because if were in a bad shape by the end of the fourth game, it would have been fair to say we wouldn’t really be in a position to give that chance to the other players. And we would have had to be careful.”Now we are in a position where we can do that. It’s good to see Gautam scoring runs. We want to see Viru get runs and Sachin also to get runs so that the best XI comes and plays the finals.”Dhoni was full of praise for Gambhir. “It [his coming into form] is really good because once he gets going he comes out with a big score, and he looks to play more than 35 to 40 overs, it allows the other batsmen to come in and play a bit freely. Of course the difficulty is, we have been chasing so you can’t always express yourself.”It’s good to have someone like Gautam in the side. Plays the spinners really well, and he runs well between the wickets well. It gives the team a chance to come back just in case a couple of batsmen make mistakes in the middle of the innings, because you have someone who is on one side going through with his innings.”After the previous game against Australia, though, which India won in the 50th over, Gambhir had said that India should have finished it off around the 48th over. It was Dhoni who had delayed the final assault, cutting it too tight before finishing it off in typical style. At the toss of the next game, against Sri Lanka, Dhoni said that if a batsman scores about 50 he should make sure he finishes the game off. Dhoni was asked if everything was fine between him and Gambhir.”There is nothing [uneasy between us],” Dhoni said. “It’s different when you are playing in the middle. If you see his innings today, he also found it difficult to rotate the strike consistently, and once you are in that situation it is very difficult to play a big shot. You can easily play big shots, but the difference is it always has to pay off. If it doesn’t, what do you say?”So I am never in a hurry to finish it in the 48th over or 47th over. Even if it goes to the 49th or 50th over, I am quite happy. [Since I bat down the order] I don’t have the luxury of batsmen behind me. If I go in to bat, I like to finish the job. It’s different with different people. Some people like to finish the game early, take a bit more risk in the middle and finish off the game, but I have a different perspective about it.”It’s a very individual thing. There’s nothing wrong. If you ask Viru [Sehwag], he would have said ‘why not 25 overs?'”