With most of the Indian batsmen striking form in the ongoing cricket World Cup, former India player VVS Laxman believes that the team's batting line-up was primed to do well in the knock-out stage
VVS Laxman
New Delhi: With most of the Indian batsmen striking form in the ongoing cricket World Cup, former India player VVS Laxman believes that the team's batting line-up was primed to do well in the knock-out stage.
VVS Laxman
India rode on Suresh Raina's unbeaten 110 to chase down a 288-run target against Zimbabwe in their last league game to end on top of Pool 'B'. They meet Bangladesh in their quarter-final match at the MCG on Thursday.
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"I am very happy to see Suresh Raina amongst the run scorers. India's top-four have had enough exposure so far and they seem to be in a good touch," Laxman told PTI.
If man-of-the-match Raina led the batting attack, then captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni once again showed his class with an unbeaten 85 off 76 deliveries. 'Captain Cool' stitched a 196-run unbeaten fifth wicket partnership with Raina to make things easy for India after the team looked in trouble at 92 for four.
Laxman could not stop praising Dhoni 'the player' and 'captain'. "One thing which impresses me a lot about Dhoni is his style of adapting to different situations in the game. Dhoni reads situations well and always has a plan ready. Dhoni had been handed the responsibility of captaincy very early in his career and I believe that he has made the most out of it," said the stylish Hyderabadi batsman.
Laxman is impressed with Dhoni's approach as captain in this tournament. "He has handled his team very well so far in the tournament. He was always criticised for not talking to the bowlers during the game, but in this tournament especially he has taken an extra effort to go and speak to the bowlers and guide his team to bowl as per the situation," said Laxman.