India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday lauded his team's fielding performance against Pakistan saying that they are currently the world's top fielding side, says a report in Hindustan Times. "The whole team is doing really well in all the three departments. We are the top fielding side in world cricket as of now; we need to keep the intensity up," said Dhoni after India beat their arch-rivals by eight wickets in Birmingham at Edgbaston to finish top of Group B.
India had caused two outstanding run-outs of Pakistani batsmen during the match.The wicket-keeper batsmen also lauded swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the presentation ceremony.
"Bhuvneshwar bowls in very good areas and can swing the ball. He's someone who has given us the early breakthroughs. (It is) good to see him bowl well."
Meanwhile a column in Mail Today states that Captain cool M.S. Dhoni is enjoying the pleasant weather in England and has ensured Team India remains unaffected by all the negative news emanating from home relating to the BCCI and IPL.
“He believes in himself and the choices he makes for the team, and it has been refreshing to see the Indians do so well in conditions which have been good for oneday cricket. It is not as if this edition of the Champions Trophy has been dull.”
“Away from the cricket grounds, in Edgbaston, David Warner showed how the Aussies behave like typical lager louts in England when he whacked Joe Root in a bar brawl!” says the column, adding that the root of all such problems is the inability to hold your drinks and Warner typifies the ugly Aussie behaviour after a bitter loss to their sworn enemies.
“Back to the Indians, the way the team has been built by Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher is impressive. Now that it has become public that Dhoni has business interests which result in huge profits, it is nice to see he treats Team India the same way,” says the column, adding that before the team left for India, there was criticism for Dhoni and the selection committee headed by Sandeep Patil as they had picked players who were not thought to be good enough for the Champions Trophy.
“There could have been no doubt about players like Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan but when Dinesh Karthik and 'Sir' Ravindra Jadeja were also drafted in, eyebrows were raised. As Mail Today reported earlier, many players who did well in the IPL and were rewarded with slots in the Indian ODI team have again caught the eye. At a time when Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir must be wondering at the fast change of events in their cricket careers, Rohit and Dhawan have grabbed the chances well.”
Meanwhile a column in Deccan Chronicle says that having come to England with the spot-fixing controversy raging back home, India were under enormous scrutiny for reasons beyond cricket. Poor results overseas in the past two years had only added to the pressure. “Privately and publicly many critics — even well-wishers thought that India’s challenge would fizzle out prematurely. Instead, there has been a remarkable revival. The batting has been brilliant and aggressive, the bowling unexpectedly incisive and the fielding a revelation,” reads the column, adding victories in the two warm-up matches were well-fashioned yet hard fought. “In both games, India lost early wickets only to recover smartly. But the two in the league stage main tournament were emphatic to the point of disbelief.”
“So what’s changed so much in just a few weeks? Several theories emerge, but of the lot the two that seem most plausible are (1) the pressure of the spot-fixing scam brought the players together and (2) the smart work of the selectors is paying dividends. In fact, the second aspect as the more important because if the talent isn’t good enough, no amount of pressure can produce good performances consistently,” says the column, adding that the selectors, always much maligned, deserve kudos when it’s due.
“It’s quite extraordinary that this tour has not seen any notable failure barring M Vijay who had only the warm-up games in which to adjust to the conditions. Suresh Raina is the only one in the top order not to have a decent score and he has had only one knock. Vijay lost his place to Dinesh Kartik who has batted with such assurance and aplomb that it will be difficult to dislodge him now.”