“A total of 250 was gettable but our batsmen failed to get going, we had our starts but we could not play a longer innings. Our bowlers did a good job in restricting Australia. I don’t see this defeat as a setback but we should have won this match,” Dhoni said.
The skipper also defended the young quartet of Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma. “They are young players and they will learn with experience. Raina, Virat and Jadeja are learning from their mistakes while Ishant bowled well right through this series though today the Australians went after him and then you do go for runs,” Dhoni said.
He added that openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar are in good nick and big partnerships from them will happen in due course.
Proud captain
Meanwhile, Ricky Ponting said that he is proud of his team. “I am happy with our fighting spirit. It was now or never and the team performed well. We could have scored more than 250 but in the end our bowlers Doug Bollinger and Shane Watson did a good job and even Nathan Hauritz bowled well. Mitchell Johnson did not bowl at his best though but overall I am happy,” Ponting said.
Both Dhoni and Ponting expressed their frustration over the movement near the sightscreen while refusing to comment on the leg-before verdict that went against Tendulkar.
