Dhoni delighted with offie's show despite India's defeat
Dhoni delighted with offie's show despite India's defeatIndia captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was left to rue his side's middle order collapse after they lost the opening Twenty20 international against New Zealand by seven wickets.
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India's Yuvraj Singh (left), captain M S Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh discuss a point during the Twenty20 international against New Zealand at the AMI Stadium, Christchurch, yesterday. PIC/AP |
The Indians got off to a cracking start as Virender Sehwag hit Tim Southee for three consecutive sixes in the opening over.
But having reached 32 for one with three overs gone they slumped to 61 for five as Sehwag (26 off 10), Rohit Sharma (seven), Yuvraj Singh (one) and captain MS Dhoni (two) joined Gautam Gambhir (six) in suffering quick dismissals.
It took a 61-run partnership between Suresh Raina, who top-scored with 61, and Harbhajan Singh (21) to get them to a reasonable total of 162 for eight.
"We got off to a good start but... there was nobody who took the responsibility of staying there in the middle," Dhoni said.
"It's very important to have wickets in hand so you can capitalise on maybe the last four of five overs."
The Indian skipper was happy with his bowlers, particularly Harbhajan, who finished with one for 19 off his four overs.
Zaheer Khan (one for 20 off four) also bowled well and Ishant Sharma (one for 35 off four) was unlucky not to have got two wickets as Martin Guptill should have been given out leg before the very first ball he faced.
Fine rhythm"I'm quite happy with the way the bowlers bowled. It was a tough wicket, good for batting, so I'm happy with the bowlers," Dhoni told Sky Sports. "It was nice to see Harbhajan in a good rhythm."
He added: "In a Twenty20 game you don't really want to give them too many runs by giving them too many loose deliveries. If they score off a good ball then fair enough, especially when the ground is so short."
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori was delighted to get win at the first attempt, especially after the agony of missing out by one run in the recent game against Australia.
Brendon McCullum batted through, hitting a patient 56 off 49 balls, and forming valuable partnerships with Guptill (54), Ross Taylor (50) and Jacob Oram (60) to steer the Kiwis home.
"It's nice to go 1-0 up, particularly with our record, it hasn't been that great of late. We still think we are a decent Twenty20 side but you've got to put results on the board. Hopefully this is the start of something,"
Vettori said.
The final Twenty20 match is on Friday. The five match one-day series starts in Napier on Sunday.
