MS Dhoni blames defeat on batting collapse – Cricket News Update
Indian skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013’s impressive win in the recently concluded third Test at Kolkata, further blaming his team’s batters for not showing enough conviction in the hour of need.
The home side was dealt a fatal blow in terms of claiming a much needed series win after going down 1-2 at Eden Gardens, with only the Nagpur Test to follow. England achieved victory in the opening hour of play on day 5, overhauling http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s second innings total of 41 with seven wickets to spare.
The major damage had been done on the penultimate day where the tourists restricted India on 239 for 9 after posting 523 in their first innings – taking an overall lead of 193.The Indians were sitting pretty at 86 for 0, courtesy openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/G-Gambhir-c1447, but the wicket of the former instigated an astonishing collapse, which eventually had the home side reeling at 8 for 159.
An innings defeat loomed large but an admirable rearguard performance from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/PP-Ojha-c2198 to guide the team to 247.
However, England’s big lead meant that they had just 41 runs to chase, and although they stuttered in their attempts, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IR-Bell-c1597 and Nick Compton restored dominancy to take their side to a convincing victory.
Dhoni gave credit to his opponents and further lamented his side’s own displays with the bat.
"In the second innings, we started losing wickets, and that's where we lost the game. We got off to a very good start, we were batting really well, but we started losing wickets and nobody was able to soak up the pressure," lamented Dhoni.
"We need to give bowlers a few more runs to bowl at. We haven't scored consistently over 300. On this wicket we should have scored 450 or above. The batsmen who got starts didn't make it matter."
The final Test of the series will commence from December 13.
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