Shane Watson has shared his opinion on MS Dhoni’s retirement, Team India’s success, Australia’s strength and his innings with a bleeding knee in the Final of IPL 2019. Watson is currently on a visit to Chennai.
Watson is the latest addition to a large lot of cricketers backing Dhoni to keep on playing cricket with all the skills he possesses and call time on his career when he really feels so.
He said, “He (Dhoni) has still got the skill. But it is down to him to decide. He still moves incredibly well, runs hard between the wickets and has beautiful hands. Whatever he does, it will be the right thing because he knows what lies ahead.”
Team India is currently performing brilliantly well under the captaincy of Virat Kohli and they are being compared to the dominant Australians who played under the leadership of legendary captains Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. Watson said that the performances by those Australian teams will be hard to replicate but there is no reason why India wouldn’t be able to do it.
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“He (Kohli) has done a great job with the Indian team. He has been playing so well in all formats. Whatever he is doing right now is certainly working and the team is responding to his leadership. It is going to be hard to replicate, but there is no reason why India can't do it,” he said.
He also praised the Indian team for being strong in all aspects of the game.
“There is no doubt that India has got the depth in all facets - batting, bowling and fielding. The depth in Indian cricket is incredibly strong. It has got the luxury of having someone like a Rohit Sharma opening the batting and scoring lots of runs. The depth in Indian cricket is incredible. I am sure this team can win away from home as well,” he added.
The 38-year-old also talked about the depth possessed by the current Australian team and the rise in strength with the comebacks of David Warner and Steve Smith. He also mentioned the new batting star Marnus Labuschagne.
Watson said, “The Australian team has had its issues in the last year or so. Now that Steve Smith and David Warner have come back and settled well, it has got a very strong team. There is a really good No.3 in Marnus Labuschagne, who did a great job during the Ashes. The fast bowlers are very good and there is depth in the department and Nathan Lyon are performing too. We have got strong depth.”
Finally, he was asked about the bloodied knee he was playing with, for Chennai Super Kings in the final of IPL 2019 against the Mumbai Indians. He revealed that he wasn’t aware that the knee was bleeding and his attention was only on the scorecard.
“I wasn't really aware of it. You don't worry about something which you don't know. All I thought about was what the score was and how many runs we needed to get," he concluded.
(Inputs from PTI)
