After Bangladesh punched above its weight to hand India a thorough thrashing in the first One-Day International at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium here, touring captain M.S. Dhoni said his team’s below par batting and the home side’s fine bowling caused the upset.
In a post-mortem of the 79-run loss on Thursday night, Dhoni said the target of 308 set by Bangladesh was gettable. “I felt 300-plus was a good score, it was one we definitely could have achieved. But our batting was not up to the mark,” Dhoni said. “Whenever you are chasing 300, the key is partnerships. The bigger the partnership, the easier it becomes for the middle order and lower order batsmen to score the remaining runs. “If you keep losing wickets and you are not able to rotate the strike freely, the pressure just keeps on mounting. It is important to have wickets in hand when you are chasing. I am always a big fan of the saying, ‘Take the game to the end. ‘You don’t really have to win in the 40th or 45th over if you have wickets in hand. Even when (Ravindra) Jadeja and (Suresh) Raina were batting, the difference was not too big and especially with the fifth fielder inside, you can always exploit that and get maybe 15-20 runs.’ Dhoni showered praise on the Bangladeshi bowlers for sticking to their game plan. “They knew their home conditions well, bowled in the right areas and knew what kind of variations will be the most helpful here.
‘The variations that they used were pretty impressive. They didn’t bowl 140 and a slower one that was 115; they mixed up the pace well. And they had more bowlers who got more bounce compared to our fast bowlers. On slow wickets, bounce is at times hard to negotiate because it climbs on to you. I felt they knew the exact length that was needed to bowl. That was the difference between the two fast bowling units.”
Dhoni doffed his cap at Bangladesh’s teenage left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman who accounted for five batsmen on his ODI debut. “Mustafizur bowled particularly well, he used his variations well, but he was supported well by some of the bowlers.”
Speaking about the Indian bowling performance, Dhoni said Bangladesh batsmen’s early onslaught played a big part. “That is an approach they have been adopting and have become successful. It was not as if we bowled bad deliveries, but they went after the bowlers, played big shots and put pressure on our bowlers.”
The Indian captain said he was not shocked over Bangladesh’s good showing.
“They have actually not achieved what they should be achieving. They have been a very good side, especially in the subcontinent. Their performance outside will slowly improve. What is important for them is not to be content with the kind of success they have. They are a side that can become very consistent at international level.”
While admitting that the defeat ‘hurt’ him, Dhoni reposed faith in his side.
“All the individuals are quite experienced at the international level. In games you lose, they tend to pick what went wrong and most times you will find the individuals standing up, taking responsibility and getting ready for the next game.”
