The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : We could not recover from early setbacks, says Dhoni

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Monday, Nov 19, 2007
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We could not recover from early setbacks, says Dhoni

Jaipur: Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday said losing too many wickets upfront was a major reason for the team’s failure to chase down 307 in the fifth One-Day International against Pakistan here.

“When the opposition scores more than 300, you need to maintain the run rate for a successful chase. Otherwise, it keeps mounting and creates pressure,” Dhoni said after India fell short by 31 runs at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium.

“The initial wickets they took hampered our chase. From then on, we were always trying to catch up and it became difficult,” he said.

However, Dhoni, who won his first ODI series as captain, lauded the effort of the team in the five-match rubber.

“We played well. We were good in batting and bowling. We did not field well and there is scope of improvement there. We are working on that and hopefully we will be an improved side,” he said.

Dhoni added that Sachin Tendulkar, with his “aggressive batting,” played a major role in the series win.

He added that Yuvraj Singh, who was chosen the Man of the Series, was taking up a lot of responsibility and that augurs well for the team.

“He is batting with responsibility and that is good for the team. He is proving a point.”

Asked about youngster Rohit Sharma’s knock on Sunday, Dhoni said, “he was under pressure when he went out to bat. This was a match where guys, who sat out in the earlier matches, got an opportunity to play and that is important for the team.”

Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik said the victory would boost the confidence of the side ahead of the three-match Test series. “We are going into the Test series and this victory will give us confidence,” Malik said. — PTI

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