His team could not make it to the final in Indian Premier League, but Dhoni is confident about Indian’s prospect in the upcoming cricket extravaganza that is the next month’s twenty-20 world championship. The kind of exposure, the youngsters gained though month long IPL tournament will help them give a good fight to grab the twenty-20 title for the second time, maintains Dhoni.

“The good thing if you see in this tournament that will really help us in ICC World Twenty20 will be the emergence of part-timers who have done really well. Especially in the field restrictions, you have Yusuf Pathan bowling at that point, Harbhajan (Singh) has bowled and (Pragyan) Ojha also has bowled,” Dhoni, commented after his team, Chennai Super Kings lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore. “You see some of the hat-tricks that are taken in the tournament are by the part-timers, so that really is a big help,” added Dhoni.

India’s captain cool does not only go gaga over the part time skills of some of the players, he maintains that success of part time bowlers in the IPL has opened up range of options before him and he would make full use of them in the upcoming cricket tournament next month in England.  

“Most of the spinners are part-timers who are a part of the side; they have bowled in that particular time when you as a bowler are under pressure. Not much of spin, maybe the ball holds on a bit over here. But overall the experience will really count, this tournament in the 55-60 games that took place, most of them went really close.

“Most of the Indian batsmen who were part of that winning side or maybe the bowlers who were part of that winning moment were under pressure. They will handle the pressure well when it comes to an international T20 game also. Loads of positives that will help the players who were part of the side," Dhoni pointed out.

The Indian captain also pins his hopes on the fresh domestic talents that emerged through the various stages of the tournament. He said last year’s IPL had helped Indian side excel in the ODI and Twenty-20 formats; the experiences from IPL Season 2 will take the team to another level of success. “We have seen new domestic players come up and perform at this level. Overall, you can say, it was a good tournament for us. Also, last year's IPL helped the Indian team perform better in the Twenty20 and one-day formats. Hopefully, this year's tournament will take us to the next level,” Dhoni said.

Dhoni further pointed out that the pressure of Indian Premier League has tremendously helped the cricketers, particularly the younger ones to handle pressure more maturely. He is confident that the lessons learnt through IPL would help the players remain calm and focused in the similar situations in the upcoming twenty-20 world championship. “Most of the Indian batsmen and bowlers have been under pressure at different points in the tournament. They will handle the pressure well when it comes to an international T20 game also,” commented India’s most successful cricket captain of recent times.

Two year gap in between and the stage is different - then it was South Africa and this time it is England. The only thing remains constant and that is Dhoni magic. The entire India is waiting to see if Dhoni can repeat the history of 2007 this time again!

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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