Bridgetown: The draw against West Indies despite being in a strong position in the second Test did not disappoint Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who said his side could have won but was done in by the weather gods.
“Rain or bad light is not in our control. There is no reason why we should be disappointed. (May be) 12-13 overs more we could have got it (the win), but you can’t control it,” remarked Dhoni after a remarkable day’s play at the Kensington Oval.
“I thought 280 to get in 80 overs was always going to be difficult. The outfield was slow and as we have seen in this series, the shot-making has never been easy,” he said.
“They were five wickets down and we needed two more wickets which we did get. Only 100 runs at that stage to get could have appeared 70-run surplus for us. It was quite difficult to score freely unless you bowled really bad. That’s why scoring rate wasn’t high in this Test,” he added.
Mahi praises Ishant
Dhoni quickly shifted his attention to Ishant Sharma who picked up six wickets in the first and four in the second innings for a match haul of 10 for 108. “Right from the IPL, Ishant has been bowling in the right areas. Everything, from seam positioning to rhythm has been perfect from him,” Dhoni said.
“That’s the reason he is up in pace and bounce. He’s been bowling with pace and in good areas and has been the pick of our bowlers. Zaheer shared a lot of his experience with him and Sharma is now doing it with other quick bowlers,” he added.
Dhoni made a pointed reference about the failure of two of his young batsmen in the series — Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli. “Murali is a good talent. He is a good boy, spends a lot of time, studying what needs to be done. As for Virat, it’s a difficult one. Personally after his innings between the break you have to interact with him. Performance is not always in players’ control. ” he added. (PTI)
