“You have to be at your best when you are playing top nations,” Dhoni said after suffering an innings and 242-run defeat in the third Test here on Saturday.
“Our batting department didn’t click the way it should have been. We were not able to put par-plus runs on the board. What’s important is both the departments should click at the same time. I am quite happy with the way the bowlers performed though. It was a standard example where we are outplayed by another international side,” he remarked.
Dhoni didn’t take kindly to suggestions that India may have come underprepared for the tour.
“You will have to explain what you mean by (we have) not worked hard enough. We played 200 days of cricket and what else you want us to do?” he asked.
And what about the hectic schedule? “As far as scheduling is concerned, it’s beyond players’ control. One thing is if we are sent to play a series, we give our 100 per cent.
We make use of the resources that are provided to us, whatever time we have for preparation try to schedule it well and maximise the resources,” the World Cup winning skipper explained.
Dravid review
Dhoni felt that Dravid could have reviewed his caught-behind decision early in the innings.
“If you see the chain of events that happened, it’s very rare that the batsman hits the lace of the boot and it’s the exact time when the ball passes by. Rahul wasn’t 100 per cent sure about whether he nicked it or not. May be now he thinks he should have taken the review (option) but the fact is he didn’t and it’s gone now,” he said.
On a day when Indian tail-enders took blows after blows on their bodies, Praveen Kumar was struck on his right thumb which had the bowler writhing in pain.
“I haven’t got any update (on the injury) from the physio. He got hit on his right thumb which is his bowling thumb. I don’t know how critical it is but let’s hope for the best,” he observed.
