India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today blamed his batsmen for the “soft dismissals” which saw them suffer an embarrassing 266-run defeat in the third cricket Test and said they would need to discuss their four-bowler strategy ahead of the fourth rubber.
Asked about the decision to go with four bowlers in the third Test, Dhoni said: “The reason for using four bowlers is the we never used the fifth. We just used him for 10 and 8 overs. With Shikhar and Vijay and Rohit around we thought we could do it.
“But it’s the bowling we need to improve and hit the top of off stump. We will have to think about the four-bowler strategy. We can say the extra batsman didn’t score, but then again the extra bowler didn’t pick up wickets. So we have to discuss a lot and decide on the basis of the pitch.”
Part-time off-spinner Moeen Ali’s six-wicket haul saw India bundle out for 178 in the second innings to earn a huge win for England and draw level in the five-test series and Dhoni said his batsmen should have been more positive.
“I don’t think we played good cricket. We played the fast bowlers well. Moeen (Ali) bowled well, but we also allowed him to bowl well,” said Dhoni after India lost the third Test by a huge 266 runs here today.
“He bowled good lines and one ball will turn, there is some wear on the wicket and we should have been more positive.”
“There were quite a few soft dismissals during the phase where Jinx (Ajinkya Rahane) got out and a couple of other wickets that fell. The last session yesterday, we lost too many wickets. We could have looked at the Test today a different way without that,” he added.