India's string of defeats away from home continues. The sidehas now lost eight Tests, three ODIs and two twenty20 games beginning with the tour of England last year.
After yet another setback here on Wednesday, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the top-order batting let the side down.
“If a couple of the top order batsmen had stayed longer, it would have been much easier for the new batsman coming in to play his shots with someone else stable at the other end. But that did not happen for us today,” he said.
He added the drizzle too did not help the team's cause after he had clinched the spin of the coin. “In England, we didn't win any of the tosses, it rained in the second innings and our bowling suffered because of that.
“This is the first toss I won over here and going by the forecast I thought we would be better off chasing. Around 170 runs would have been a good score to chase if the wicket had remained the same.
“In the second innings, it started to turn and grip and the odd ball was bouncing more than the normal delivery. It was difficult,” he said.
Dhoni backed the decision to play a third spinner in Rahul Sharma.
“We wanted to pick Rahul because he did really well for us in the IPL, and if you see his bowling analysis he did the job he was supposed to do.”
The Indian captain conceded Ravindra Jadeja proved costly. “I think Jadeja was a bit expensive but in the normal scenario we always play him because he gives us the balance when needed.”
Australian captain George Bailey said, “I am quite satisfied with the way the guys came up with their performances and happy to see our decisions fetching the right results.
“Wade played a brilliant innings. Hopefully, we can finish the job in Melbourne. We still need to work hard and need to find a way to dismiss Virender Sehwag for a second time.”
Published - February 02, 2012 04:19 am IST
