Dhoni wary of pace threat

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St Lucia: Nearly three weeks after their World Twenty20 campaign was derailed by Chris Gayle & Co, India are yet to figure a way out to handle the West Indies pace attack. In the first one-dayer in Kingston, the visitors seemed to have found an answer to it as they amassed 339, but came crashing down in the next as they were bundled out for 188. Only Yuvraj Singh and, to an extent, Mahendra Singh Dhoni have put up some resistance even as others, especially the top order, have fared miserably.

As the two teams go into the third match on Friday all square, skipper Dhoni is wary of the threat. And one bowler he is keeping an eye on is Ravi Rampaul, who took four for 37 in the second match, as the Indian batting collapsed.

“Rampaul swings the ball really well, bowls in the right areas, he forces you to play a big shot like the cover drive,” said Dhoni, praising the right-arm pacer, whose opening spell had India tottering at 82 for eight before the captain hit 95 to take India to a modest total.

Nothing in the pitch

Dhoni said lack of assistance from the pitch in Kingston makes Rampaul and fellow pacer Jerome Taylor’s performance all the more creditable. “I don’t think there was that much in (the pitch) for the bowlers,” Dhoni said. “They bowled really well, they were swinging the ball well and, when it stopped swinging, they were able to get reverse swing almost immediately,” he added.

For 24-year-old Rampaul, whose career has been hampered by multiple injuries, the Kingston performance has given him confidence for the future. “A performance like this has really helped me to come back and play international cricket and improve my confidence a lot,” Rampaul said.