I worked hard on tackling bouncers, says Parthiv

“We have to play every ball, whether short-pitched or not,” said Parthiv when asked about his strategy to tackle bouncers.

“We hope we tackle the bowlers in the best possible way and perform well. I had the advantage of watching England bowling in the Test matches, and they obviously had the plan of bowling short to our batsmen.

“Before coming here, I was in the NCA for seven or eight days working on short balls because I knew if I was going to play, I would be opening the batting. Obviously they will come hard at me with the short balls. But I’ve worked on it. I'm glad I executed those plans in the first game, which is a start, but I want to continue that.”

Sachin Tendulkar’s unavailability, Parthiv felt, was a big blow to India notwithstanding his rather indifferent form on tour thus far.

“You can’t fill the shoes of Sachin Tendulkar, no matter who you are. So, that’s obviously is a big loss to the team. I don't think he has anything to prove against anyone at all. His stats speak for themselves.”

The Gujarat batsman said skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had done his best keep the team’s confidence going despite the repeated losses.

“The captain always plays a big role, whether he has senior players with him or not. I think he’s done really well to keep the morale high in the dressing room. We had a good chance of winning the first game. His role is always important,” Parthive remarked.

Parthiv agreed that the one-day series was a chance to turn things around for India. “The way we started was encouraging,” he said.

“We are the World champions and we did really well in the West Indies or any ODI series in the recent past. Even in Durham, we got 275 and were very well placed with England at 27 for two. Even though we bowled just seven overs, we looked really good to win that game. So hopefully, we can try and turn it around (again) tomorrow,” he said.