MS Dhoni blames the Hambantota pitch for the 2nd ODI debacle – Part One – Cricket News Update
After a miserable loss in the second of the five-match One Day International (ODI) series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028, the Indian captain, has blamed the pitch, which he thought was not up to international
standards.
The Men in Blue won the toss and opted to bat first on a track that was bound to assist the seam bowlers. On the contrary, the visitors were off to a flying start, having scored 31 runs in merely 3.5 overs, before losing Virender
Sehwag, who was caught and bowled by Thisara Perera.
Sehwag’s ouster triggered a major collapse, the middle-order being exposed to new balls at both the ends. Consequently, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 could only manage 138 runs before being all out in the 34th over of the innings, which was chased
down by the visitors without much of a trouble, courtesy brilliant half-centuries by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/WU-Tharanga-c2802.
Ironically, Dhoni’s men had posted a total in access of 300 runs in the first ODI on the same ground, which helped them go 1-0 up in the series.
The wicketkeeper/batsman however, believes that the two pitches were in contrast to each other and admitted that his side failed to recover after losing http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Kohli-c2737, who was caught behind off Perera’s bowling.
"The pitch was next to the wicket we played on last time but it behaved in a completely different way," Dhoni said. "Initially the wicket was slightly on the slower side. Once Virat [Kohli] got out we lost a couple of more wickets
very quickly.”
The 31-year-old further added that even the specialist batsmen could not handle pressure on such a track, leave aside the bowling all-rounders like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Ashwin-c2228.
“Before the batsmen could assess the wicket, we lost two wickets played on. I thought after that it was too much for batsmen like Irfan [Pathan] and Ashwin to come in and take us out of trouble," he added.
The loss in the second ODI must have rung alarm bells in the Indian team, which is supposed to host one of the strongest batting line-ups of the globe in the limited-overs formats.
To be continued…
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