Dhoni warns team against complacency

India captain refuses to bask in winning streak.

BIRMINGHAM: India captain MS Dhoni has told his match-winning young team to remain focused as it approached the business end of the Champions Trophy.

The reigning World Cup champions have enjoyed a remarkable campaign so far, becoming the only team to enter the semi-finals with an all-win record.

But Dhoni knowns all the good work will mean nothing if his team slips up in Thursday’s second semi-final against a still unknown opponent from the wide-open group A.

“There are, hopefully, still two more matches to go and we must play with the same intensity that we have shown so far,” he said.

It has been a formidable display by the tournament’s youngest team in which Dhoni is the oldest member of the side at 31, and reserve spinner Amit Mishra is the only other player aged 30.

“This is the team of the future,” said India’s former World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev. “Easily the best side in the tournament so far.”

India began with a 26-run win over South Africa before routing the West Indies by eight wickets. Then they registered their first success over archrivals Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, winning a rain-marred encounter by eight wickets. Meanwhile, hard-hitting opener Shikhar Dhawan is the tournament’s leading scorer so far with 264 runs while left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja is the top wicket-taker with nine scalps.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2013.