Mirpur, January 08: Even as Mahendra Singh Dhoni managed to take his team through to a comprehensive win with an unbeaten century against Bangladesh, he was upset with the way India’s frontline bowlers have struggled to control the flow of runs against most of the oppositions.
India registered its first victory in the tri-nation ODI series here and it needed special knocks from Dhoni (101) and Virat Kohli (91) to take the visitors home.
But Dhoni was visibly upset with the way Indian bowlers allowed the Bangaldeshi batsmen to notch up a score of 296 for six in 50 overs.
None of the Indian frontline bowlers could control the run flow as Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra came under the hammer, while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was slightly better than the pace duo.
However, Yuvraj Singh (1/33) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/45) did well to restrict the hosts inside the 300-run mark.
”It was quite disappointing that all the bowlers did not perform well today. Not a single frontline bowler was upto the mark. Only Yuvraj Singh bowled well. We cannot take Ravindra Jadeja as a frontline bowler but he bowled well,” Dhoni said after the six-wicket win last night.
Dhoni called on for an improved bowling performance if India has to maintain its number one tag.
”If we want to be in the number one spot, if we want to be consistent then we need to improve our performance in all departments, especially bowling. I want the bowlers to deliver when needed. ”We need to improve our performance by 50 per cent. I know that would be tough for the boys but thats what is international cricket all about,” Dhoni added.
Set to chase a daunting target of 297, India were reduced to 51 for three and were left in a precarious situation. Dhoni admitted that there was some pressure on the visitors after the fall of early wickets.
”Bangladesh scored nearly 300 and they got early breakthroughs as we were down 51 for three. We were under pressure. Virat and I were a bit nervous. But Virat played a superb innings and Suresh supported us.
”I was never really worried as we had the second powerplay in hand. We were never really short of runs. We were always in reach of the target. So I and Virat decided to build up a partnership to lay the foundation and the plan worked,” he noted.
The young Kohli, who came up with a brilliant score of 91 when it mattered the most, also came in for praise from his captain.
”He has grabbed whatever opportunity has came his way. It is difficult to make way in the Indian middle order be it in Tests or ODIs. He is putting pressure on the established middle order players. That is good sign for Indian cricket,” Dhoni said.
——-Agencies