India can become World No 1 in Tests by end of season: Dhoni

Lauderhill (US), Aug 29 (PTI) Limited over captainMahendra Singh Dhoni believes that India’s Test side led byVirat Kohli can regain it’s top ranking in longest format bythe end of the home season in which they play 13 Tests againstNew Zealand, England, Australia and Bangladesh. Dhoni feels the team is shaping up well under skipperVirat Kohli and the fact that all the Indian fast bowlers arefit and doing well will held the team in good stead in theupcoming Test matches. "I think the Indian Test team is shaping up well. Itseemed we were more settled in T20 and ODI but now our teamhad a good batting experience. If you notice, for the last 2and a half years, we had the same batting unit, barring one ortwo changes. So you learn a lot. Test remains the ultimateformat," Dhoni told reporters after the 2nd T20Iwas washed out yesterday. "On top of it, one plus point is that all our fastbowlers are fit now and the way they are bowling. We have 10proper fast bowlers and it’s an asset. Now we will be playinga lot of matches, so we can rotate our fast bowlers if we wantto," he observed. Dhoni is happy that talent is now getting transformedinto performance. "As far as performance is concerned, the talent andexperience of the team has started to get reflected in theperformance and in the times to come, this season we will beplaying 13 Tests and I think by the end of it if everythinggoes well, touchwood, we will be the number one team in theworld and the gap between the first and second team will besubstantial," he added. Coming back to the short T20 series, Dhoni said while thepitch remained same where the bowlers were belted for 245 inthe first game, it was the addition of an extra spinner inAmit Mishra, which paid off as the World T20 champions werebowled out for less than 150. "I don’t think the wicket changed a lot. It is same asthe last wicket. It is the exposure that they had in thelast game, it gave them the ability to go back and think abouttheir own game plan and often when there is no break betweentwo matches, it actually helps the bowlers to quickly go backand plan," said the 35-year-old from Ranchi. "It is the execution that matters and I think it wasgreat. Addition of a spinner also paid off well. Mishra bowledreally well. I felt it was the whole bowling unit who couldrestrict them to 140, it was a brilliant effort," he added.PTI ATK KHSATK