IPL is grooming future Indian cricketers: Dhoni

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: March 9, 2010

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Chennai: India and Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said that the Indian Premier League is performing a very important role of grooming talented youngsters for the betterment of the game in India.

“I want to make more players for ourselves. We are grooming Indian players from under-19 or players on the verge of making debut for India. All those individuals rubbing their shoulders with international cricketers from India and overseas help them in learning cricketing skills,” Dhoni said.

Dhoni also cited examples of players from his own franchise, Chennai Super Kings, who made a mark in the first edition in 2008 and then went on to play for the country.

“We had Manpreet Goni, Murali Vijay and S Badrinath coming into the side. And Suresh Raina is becoming a great player. We are contributing a lot towards Indian cricket. Overall, we are trying to groom the Indian cricketers for the betterment of the game in India,” Dhoni, who leads Chennai Super Kings, said.

Dhoni said that the current rule of having a limited number of foreign players in the side gives them a chance to try youngsters and he was in favour of continuing with it.

“If the overseas players want to find a place in the playing eleven, they have to fight among themselves and not against Indian stock. It is perfect right now and I am quite happy with the system of only four players finding place in the final eleven,” he said.

Dhoni’s comments came after coach Stephen Fleming spoke about importance of overseas players doing duty in IPL teams. “International players coming in to play for different franchisees are important. It is the mix of players that helps a team perform well. We have a good talented bunch of players from Tamil Nadu in CSK. It is good to have them,” Fleming said.

Dhoni, meanwhile, is happy that unlike the last time, when the tournament was held in South Africa and the players had to do a lot of travelling, this time the travelling would be less. “You compare it with last IPL in South Africa, we will not be travelling that much in India. We have a base and we will be playing most of the matches in Chennai. The facilities are great so I do not think it will be as tiring as last year’s IPL. We will be enjoying much more in playing in India. Next 45 days we will be busy and lot of pressure will be on the cricketers,” he said.

The CSK skipper, though, added that weather of the city would pose a challenge for the players. “Chennai is hot and humid even at around 8.00 pm. Twenty20 is therefore very demanding in all respects, particularly on the body and also on the mental side.”

Dhoni added that he was happy with his side since it is a balanced one with good batsmen and bowlers. “As a team we rely more on our batting strength. We have strong options in bowlers like Manpreet Goni, L Balaji, Sudeep Tyagi and spinners like R Ashwin in our ranks. In the past they have done well for us. We will try to get the best out of these bowling options. We just need to play good cricket and more often than not when we do that, we will be winning games,” he said.

On the availability of certain players for this season, coach Stephen Fleming said almost all the players would be available except for Kiwi player Jacob Oram. He said Australia’s Michael Hussey’s would miss the first few matches and would join the squad from April 1 since he will be busy with his national team in New Zealand.

“Jacob Oram of course is not available. I think the full squad should be available for CSK. There was a huge question mark on Andrew Flintoff’s availability. Justin Kemp is the replacement for Flintoff,” he said.

Dhoni also said players like Kemp with all round abilities would prove quite useful. “When our main bowlers have an off-day, we have strong options to use others as bowlers and Kemp is one of them. Such options in the team for a 20-20 match, it is good for the team. Kemp is a big hitter. He can be an asset to the side,” said Dhoni.

On Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, Dhoni said, “He is the best spinner in the world and still in international circuit. He can be useful in every format of the game. He is a great guy to have in the dressing room like Makhaya Ntini and others.”

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