Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni slammed an ‘irresponsible’ batting show for India’s abject Twenty20 capitulation, adding that there was no cause for concern going into the one-day series because the 50-over game was a different cup of tea.
“We played too many shots and lost early wickets,” Dhoni said after his team had been rolled over for 74 by Australia on Friday. “A lot of players forgot their roles. It is a question of understanding roles and responsibilities.
A lot of mistakes were committed. I can understand stroke-players getting out to big shots, but some others could have been more responsible.
“We all have to realise our responsibilities. We did discuss the way to approach the match at our team meeting, but there is a difference between discussing and implementing. We made mistakes and that was the key to our downfall. Great players delay the mistakes. Saying that, we have beaten Australia twice, so it is not an embarrassing situation to lose one.”
Dhoni said lack of preparation wasn’t a factor, not even with many of those that played today having only recently arrived in India. “His Australian counterpart, Michael Clarke, was asked if the ease of the nine-wicket triumph made him elated or surprised. “Speechless,” replied the man of the match. “We studied all their batsmen from the Twenty20 World Cup. Our preparation was spot-on and the execution was perfect. We want to be the best Twenty20 team in the world, and today was perhaps the first step in that direction. We played like World champions.”
Clarke said both the outcome and the manner in which it was achieved would help the Aussies going forward.
“We have gained a lot of momentum for the one-dayers, we will take confidence from this creditable victory.”
Admitting that he had enjoyed the experience of leading the Twenty20 team for the second time this summer — he also marshalled Australia’s drubbing of New Zealand in December — Clarke said Ricky Ponting was still the true leader, and he was merely warming the seat. “He is the greatest captain in the world right now. The captaincy experience was very nice, and I am sure that in future, I would like to have this responsibility. But for now, Ricky is the captain, and I am learning a lot from watching him operate.” Neither Dhoni nor Clarke took offence to the crowd’s hooting of Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth. “It was a very noisy crowd and I don't think all the players loved the response they got, but that's the way it goes," Dhoni opined.
“That's the advantage of playing in your home country — you have the full support of the crowd,” was Clarke's reaction. “As long as they don't go over the line, let's enjoy the game.”
