We badly needed some partnerships going: Dhoni

Mohali, Nov 3 : After losing to Australia in the fourth ODI here, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni praised his bowlers for restricting the visitors to 250, but criticised the batsmen for lack of partnerships which ultimately led to a 24-run defeat.

''It was a good effort by the bowlers to restrict them to a total like 250,'' Dhoni said after the match last night.

''We got a decent start to our chase also. But subsequently, we failed as a batting unit. We should have batted the full 50 overs but that was not possible because we kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

''We badly needed some partnerships going,'' the 28-year-old stressed.

Dhoni further defended his decision to field, saying the dew factor would have made it difficult for the bowlers to grip the ball under lights.

''Dew is a big factor that always plays on your mind. From overs 15-40, generally the spinners do the job for us. That would have been taking a risk. Of course, it can backfire as well, so it's difficult to choose.

''But we knew in Mohali, the wicket would not break much and ball would come nicely onto the bat with a bit of dew.

I think our bowlers did a great job and 251 is something we should have scored,'' he added.

India's defeat here prevented them from grabbing Australia's number one ranking in ODIs and the gap between the teams is now three points.

The fifth ODI of the seven-match series is in Hyderabad on November 5.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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