Melbourne, Jan 18:
Indian captain Mahendra Singh today conceded that his side lost the plot in the early overs with new ball bowlers failing to make a mark in their tense four-wicket loss against Australia in their cricket tri-series match here.
“It was a good match overall and Mitchell Starc (6/43) bowled really well. Rohit Sharma also played a brilliant innings. But what was crucial was bowling with the new ball. The game was just drifting till the 30th over, but we picked up at the 35th over and once we got reverse swing, we were able to put pressure,” Dhoni said after Australia chased down the target of 268 with one overs to go.
Australia were cruising at 196 for two at the end of the 35th over, needing just 70-odd runs with eight wickets in hand and 15 overs left but a late fightback by the Indians gave the home side some jitters with the match going down to the penultimate over.
Dhoni said he told the players later on that the team needs to execute plans if it wants to win tournaments.
“I said I don’t care about the result, just keep in mind what happened after the last huddle. That will win us tournaments. We have to keep in mind that from now on, whatever games we play we need to execute,” Dhoni said. (PTI)
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