India vs. South Africa, 1st Test: Defeat was visible after first Innings, says http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 posting a huge total (620/4) on the board, their defeat was inevitable.
After losing the match by an innings and 25 runs, Dhoni said, “The deficit was too much to handle after we got out for 136 in the first innings. They got too many runs and then the result was just inevitable.”
In the five Test-match series, India are now down by 1-0.
Even though the first Test brought some consolation for the Indian side when Sachin Tendulkar successfully established a 50-Test-ton record, it was also observed that the Indians proved to be slow starters when they resumed play
on Monday afternoon.
Though the Indian batsmen played responsibly well in their second innings on a difficult seamer-friendly pitch at Centurion, Dhoni regarded the bowling attack of the South African team as exemplary and impossible to get the better
of. The Indian captain said, “They (South Africa) needed to deliver with the ball after winning the crucial toss under helpful conditions and their pacer did exceptionally well. They bowled in good areas and got batsmen out. Overall Graeme Smith and his men
played brilliant all-round cricket.”
The 29-year old wicketkeeper-batsman still found some positive points from his team’s disappointing performance, as according to him, the way his batsmen - particularly Tendulkar - played in the second innings was a silver lining
for the team.
"Sachin scored a fantastic hundred, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 scored 80, that's definitely a big positive for us going into the second Test at Durban," he said.
Dhoni also expressed the hope that fast bowler Zaheer Khan would join the squad for second Test match which is scheduled to start from the 26th of December. According to him, Zaheer’s experience could prove to be a major
difference in the battle against the hosts. Praising his expertise, Dhoni said: “Zaheer is our leading fast bowler and he always comes up with plans even when the going gets tough. He can educate the young bowlers on how to bowl if their plan A is not working.
So we are eager to use his expertise in the fast bowling department.”
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