Sport - Cricket

‘We could not read Mendis’

Karachi: M.S. Dhoni attributed India’s defeat to Ajantha Mendis. “We just could not read him and we knew that he was the surprise bowler.

“They didn’t play him against us in the last match and we were not aware of how he bowled. You need to be there in the middle to understand what he bowls.

“It was tough to pick his deliveries. Its not that the batsmen played badly, they played expecting something and the ball did something else,” Dhoni said.

The Indian skipper however said that qualifying for the final is an achievement for his young team. “The team has done well and there are many teams that don’t make it to the final. We have had comprehensive victories in the past and you do suffer some defeats in International cricket,” Dhoni said.

As for the Mendis factor affecting India’s plans during the Sri Lankan tour, Dhoni said: “In Tests we don’t have to try and force runs against him, we can play the waiting game and before that we will analyse his videos. Experienced batsmen will be there in the squad and yes today it was tough playing him but I am sure we will learn and cope,” Dhoni said.

Mahela Jayawardene said that getting wickets were critical to defeating India and hence he took the gamble of bringing mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis early on during the chase.

“Sehwag was playing really well and we needed wickets and the ball was still new so I did not give it to Muralitharan and instead opted for Ajantha who bowls a wicket to wicket line and it paid off,” the Sri Lankan skipper said.

On the batting recovery earlier in the evening, Jayawardene said: “We were four wickets down but Sanath was playing well and we knew that if we kept batting we will get the runs as they had just four bowlers and part-timers were going to bowl the remaining ten.”

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