When Yuvraj Singh took a single off the last ball of the 19th over of the 3rd T20 against Australia at the SCG on Sunday, the fans were left chewing whatever was left of their nails further as the left-handed batsman was struggling to middle the ball. India required 17 runs off the last six balls, with Raina, who was hitting the ball quite well, at the non-striker's end.
Yuvraj was facing Andrew Tye, standing deep inside his crease. His four and a six off the first two deliveries took India ever closetr to a win, with Raina finishing things off in style in the end.
Dhoni had batted above Yuvraj in the T20 matches prior to the third one, but he had faith in the veteran left-handed batsman and sent him ahead of himself. And Yuvraj paid off Dhoni's faith on Sunday for sure.
"I think we have the right mix. Also, Yuvraj can just go and express himself batting at No 5. There will be less pressure on him and as he plays more and more games he will just open up more," Dhoni said at the post-match press conference on Sunday.
"I have never believed in a set batting order and according to situations and bowlers, we might need to create a gap in between the two left-handed batsmen [Yuvraj and Suresh Raina]. At the moment, this seems like what will be a very good batting lineup."
Dhoni has seen Raina finish matches off in the past for the Chennai Super Kings as well as India. The skipper further elaborated the importance of the No.5 & No.6 position in the batting lineup.
"To an extent, we are rewarding IPL performances. Raina has scored the most number of runs at No. 3 for eight IPL seasons now, and at the same time in one of the World T20s he batted at No. 3 for us and he got the hundred too. But there were others who could also do a similar job in that slot but there was no one else who could bat at Nos 5 or 6," Dhoni added.
Going by Dhoni's words, it is highly unlikely that there will be too many changes made to the squad for the upcoming Sri Laka series, Asia Cup T20 2016 and finally the ICC World T20 2016.
