Mirpur, January 14: After losing the Tri-series final to Sri Lanka by four wickets here, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni lashed out at the batsmen for poor shot selection.
A strong effort with the ball from Nuwan Kulasekara and Chanaka Welegedara had left India reeling at 60 for five at one stage, but they recovered well through battling knocks from Suresh Raina (106), Virender Sehwag (42) and Ravindra Jadeja (38) to finish 245 all out, last night.
But Mahela Jayawardene anchored Sri Lanka’s run chase with an unbeaten 71 in a four-wicket victory over India.
”In the last couple of games the bowlers are doing well. We are a team relying more on batsmen but today they came short. The shot selection has not been good,” Dhoni told mediapersons after the match.
Dhoni, however, did not buy the argument that centurion Raina should have stayed back further and got more runs.
”It would be a little greedy to say that he should have got more runs. Reviving the innings from 60 for five was superb. He was out trying to push the score but since there has been dew in all the earlier matches he must have thought that we need more runs and so play shots,” the skipper said defending his young batsman.
He further said his team fell 20-run short and also felt that the ill-timed injury to paceman Ashish Nehra also dented their chances in the tri-nation final.
Nehra was taken off the field after bowling just 1.2 overs during which he had removed Upul Tharanga, apparently due to a groin problem and he did not return to the field.
”The loss of the five wickets early was crucial in the match. We were 20-30 runs were short when batting first.” ”Nehra’s absence made us difficult. There was no dew and there was something for the fast bowlers and had he been there it could have been different,” Dhoni told mediapersons after the match.
”In fact we were looking to defend the total as there was no dew. The spinners were getting the grip and there was something for fast bowlers also. Had we scored 20-30 runs more and Nehra was there we would have a chance (to win),” he added.
——-Agencies