The series may already have been lost after our defeat on Friday, but we are really keen to finish this long tour with a win today in Delhi. I've been proud of the way our younger players have fought in this series and they deserve the final scoreline to be 2-3 rather than 1-4.
On Friday night, I thought we did really well with the bat to get 315. It was great to see Upul Tharanga scoring his seventh ODI hundred and his first since returning to the team this year. He has grabbed his opportunity at the top or the order and looked really classy.
The rest of the batting was able to bat around him and that ensured we got ourselves a very testing target. Unfortunately, although (Suranga) Lakmal and (Suraj) Randiv bowled well, there was not the back-up in the field that we needed.
Gautam (Gambhir) and (Virat) Kolhi did bat brilliantly and it was a great chase by India, but our fast bowlers needed to be more disciplined. I felt we should have defended the 316-run target and levelled the series.
Unfortunately, we were left to rue earlier opportunities to win, most obviously in Rajkot at the start of the series. Having done all the hard work to get on top of the run rate, we let ourselves down badly by not finishing off India. In Cuttack, too, we sacrificed a strong position.
The big positive is that we have had had so many debutants on this tour due to the never-ending stream of injuries suffered by our bowlers. Some of those youngsters have really stepped up in what have been very difficult conditions for the bowlers.
It is not easy for the bowlers here. The pitches are flat. The outfields are fast. The Indian batting is both strong and explosive. However, the likes of Welegedera, Randiv and Lakmal have put their hands up and shown lots of heart.
In general, while we will return on the losing side and we have performed below expectations, it has been at least pleasing that this has been the most competitive we have been in India since I made my debut. That shows we are still going forward as a team.
My counterpart, MS (Dhoni), will be justly very pleased with his side’s performance. While we were handicapped by injuries, India too lost both Dhoni and Yuvraj for some key games. However, their youngsters, like Kohli at Eden Gardens, really rose to the challenge.
This is a big positive for India. You need solid bench strength if you really aspire to being the best in the world consistently and India definitely have plenty of talent coming through. India remain a formidable side at home.
No comments:
Post a Comment