MS Dhoni blames the Pune pitch, terms it an ‘English pitch’

Apr 17, 2016 at 12:50 PM

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MS Dhoni blames the Pune pitch, terms it an ‘English pitch’

The No.1 T20 team in the world were humbled on their own backyard by a young, enterprising Sri Lankan side, as the visitors clinched the match by five wickets.

A livid India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a dig at the pitch at the MCA Stadium in Pune terming it an ‘English pitch’ rather than an Indian track. The Indian batting order looked all at sea against the seam and bounce extracted by the rookie Sri Lankan pace bowlers on a green turf and were bundled out for a paltry 101 in 18.5 overs.

It was a clear case of the Australian hangover as the Indian batsmen displayed poor shot selection on a pitch on which the ball wasn’t quite coming on. “The wicket was completely different to what we have been playing in the last one month (in Australia). It was more like an English wicket. There was spongy bounce, and variable pace. The wicket was also not rolled properly. Looking at the wicket, we should not have played a few big shots that we played,” Indian skipper MS Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

When asked whether the Indian batsmen found it difficult to adjust to the conditions given that they played a lot of cricket in Australian conditions in recent weeks, the skipper came up with a tongue-in-cheek answer: “It was more like English conditions rather than Indian conditions.”

The Indian captain was also quick to point out that the shot selection of the batsmen let them down and 25-30 runs more could have made it an interesting contest.

“This was not a 160 wicket. This was more of a 135-140 kind of wicket because there was some help for the fast bowlers. Our shot selection should have been better. Looking at the positives, everybody got a chance to bat today. The bowlers did really well and another 25 runs could have made it interesting. When we went there to field, we believed that we can try hard to defend a small total,” said Dhoni.

Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal was over the moon after his pace bowlers produced a fine display to dismantle the Indian batting order and said that he had no doubt in his mind that he wanted to field first after he “saw some fresh grass on the pitch.”

“I’m over the moon. I thought toss was important. I saw some fresh grass on the pitch. Credit goes to bowlers, they did a really good job. It’s a young team. Every time we tell them to back themselves and do what they are capable of. We are missing a lot of senior players but the youngsters have put their hands up and grabbed the opportunity.”

The 3-match T20I series moves on to the next venue Ranchi on Friday where Team India will be desperate to square the series and take it to a decider.

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