MS Dhoni pleased ‘everybody has chipped in’ to India’s batting as World Cup champions reach semi-finals

MELBOURNE // Unbeaten India’s charge to the World Cup semi-finals is testament to all their batsmen making contributions during the tournament, captain MS Dhoni said.

It was a comprehensive victory for India, who started slowly but built a challenging target for Bangladesh to chase down.

No side have made more than 300 batting second to win a one-day international at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“I think what’s important for us is that we have scored runs in all the games, whether we batted first or chased,” Dhoni said.

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“But at the same time we don’t have our batsmen in the top-five scorers list for the World Cup, which means everybody has chipped in and contributed which is a good position to be in especially in the knockout stages.”

Dhoni said the trick for the champions heading into the Sydney semi-final was to keep repeating their strong points.

“We have to keep repeating what we have been doing, as simple as that,” he said.

“I feel we have done well. We have batted well. We have got partnerships going. We have bowled in partnerships. People have contributed. We have taken good catches, run-outs.

“All of it’s looking very good, it’s just that we’ll have to keep repeating more often than not.

“One of the most difficult things is to keep it simple. Over-thinking can actually kill you.

“Playing good cricket keeps your confidence going forward and you just feel more relaxed executing your plans, so it’s a mix of everything and I think we have done well so far to keep it simple.”

Dhoni also praised India’s improved fielding, which put Bangladesh’s batsmen under pressure, with Ravindra Jadeja’s run out of Imrul Kayes a standout moment.

“We had a very good fielding side. We had a game where we dropped quite a few catches, but apart from that, the fielding has been good,” he said.

“The reason being we have got good fielders. We don’t really have anyone we have to hide in the side, which means on average we are a very good fielding side.”