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'Indian spinners not world class'

We didnt bat well, says Dhoni
Last Updated 25 December 2012, 19:14 IST

After playing a crucial hand in Pakistan’s five-wicket win over India in the first T20 here at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, skipper Mohammad Hafeez detailed the way they orchastrated the chase.

Pakistan had to survive a probing opening spell by pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ashok Dinda, and Hafeez said they wanted to see off that burst and concentrate on Indian spinners.

“India doesn’t have world-class spinners in their ranks. Yes, Yuvraj is in good form, but we thought we can dominate them once we survive that opening spell.

“Bhuvneshwar swung the ball well, and used the new ball well in conditions that were helpful. We needed to take some risks after that, and our gameplan was to dominate the Indian spinners, who are not world-class,” Hafeez told reporters here on Tuesday.

Hafeez was also chuffed with the way Shoaib Malik, who has been struggling with the bat for some time, came back into form. “It’s good to see a senior batsman back among runs.
He showed today that how tough a character he is. He adapted well to the situation, and showed the value of experience. When we came together we didn’t think that we had lost three wickets upfront. We thought that batting started with us, and we need to stay there and finish the game. We are quite happy that we managed a 100-plus stand that took us to win,” Hafeez said.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said they couldn’t put on big enough total on the board.

“We didn’t bat well. There have been some assistance for all the bowlers, especially for the pace bowlers. But we didn’t have enough runs on the board, and that didn’t help us to finish the game off. We had to put some more runs after the kind of start (75/0) we got,” Dhoni said.

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(Published 25 December 2012, 19:14 IST)

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