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MS Dhoni said he is not a fan of draws and emphasized the importance of having a result after five days of play.
MS Dhoni in the nets (PTI)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni praised the result-oriented aggressive approach, often referred to as “Bazball,” that teams are adopting in Test cricket these days.
“You can give cricket any term that you want to, what we have seen is cricket has evolved. The way people are playing cricket is very different. There was a time when in ODIs something was considered a safe score, now that score is not safe in T20s too,” Dhoni said.
“You give something a term, it becomes much more interesting because you start talking about it, you start relating to it but at the end of the day what is it? It’s a way to play cricket.”
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Having played 90 Tests for India, Dhoni reflected on the challenges of playing on the fifth day when a match appeared headed for a draw.
“For me, the most difficult time during a Test match was the fifth day of a match which is the last day when you knew that 100% it is going to be a draw,” he said in the report.
“I would still need to keep for nearly 2.5 sessions and that was the most tiring part. You see there is no result happening, you are just going through the motions. Yes, bowlers would like to take wickets, batters will try to score runs, [but] there is no result in the game.
“You think let’s finish this and go, why do I have to be here. So I love the fact there’s change in the way teams are playing Test cricket.”
Not a fan of draws, Dhoni emphasized the importance of having a result after five days of play.
“Imagine telling someone who doesn’t know much cricket we play over five days and we start at 9.30 and 4.30 is the scheduled end of play, we play till 5[pm] sometimes, and after five days we don’t get a result. That’s not nice for the game. So I love how there’s more results in today’s world.”
“Even if we are playing only four days of cricket and one day gets washed out, still you get a result – that’s the beauty of Test cricket and that’s how it should stay – you want to get a result after five days and you shouldn’t have a draw.”
(With inputs from Agencies)
