Batting wasn’t up to par: MS Dhoni
First Published : 28 Sep 2012, 23:34
Last Modified : 28 Sep 2012, 23:34
Colombo, Sep 28: Outplayed in all departments by the Australians in their opening game of the Super Eights phase of the 2012 ICC World T20, India lost the match by nine wickets. With two more games to go, against Pakistan and South Africa, the Men in Blue need to regroup quickly comeback fighting to be able to stake a claim for a berth in the semi-finals.
Reflecting on the loss, skipper MS Dhoni said that untimely rain and a subpar batting in the middle overs played a role in India’s defeat.
Excerpts from his media interaction:
On the match
We need to analyse what really happened. I think the rain really took the game away from us. We got off to a good start; we had scored 70-odd runs in 10 overs and lost two wickets, which is very good but we lost one more wicket [quickly] and we were three down. And then, all of a sudden we were five down, so we weren’t in a kind situation that we could cash in on the platform. So, that was one of the reasons why we were maybe 20 runs short. And I think the rain came in at the right time, just before the rolling [of the wicket ] and once we started bowling a bit of rain came again and the wet ball I don’t think is really good for the spinners. It just reminded me of the England series you know the games that we played in England. There was nothing there for the spinners and I think that was one of the main reasons why we lost the game.
On the Australian openers
They batted brilliantly. I am not taking anything [away from them]. We need to give them credit for the kind of batting that they did. But as I said, the wicket was stopping a bit initially before the rain, but in the second innings there wasn’t anything for the spinners. And once the ball got to the outfield there wasn’t much for them. I felt that the bowlers tried to do what they could. There was not a single spinner who said, ‘This ball slipped out of my hand’. It was a tough day for them. The Australians bowled really well and the batting by both the openers was really good.
On India’s batting
We should have got some more runs. We got off to a good start as I said before. We could have scored a few more runs; 140 was a bit less. But looking at the way they batted, maybe 180 would have been less too. I think we should have batted a bit better.
On the road ahead
It is important to see what mistakes we have committed as a team. Mistakes help you improve, but it is also important to get it out of the system and not think about it too much because we all know what happened on the field. We will try to get it out of the system. It will still be there in some corner of our heart but we have two more games to go.
