London: Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni says continuous failure affected the confidence of their top-order as they could not absorb the pressure but at the same time he blamed lack of experience for India’s meek 1-3 surrender in the series, which concluded here on Sunday.
“The top-order felt the pressure of not scoring, that’s what you have to do in Test cricket, absorb pressure. A bit more application from the batsmen and it would have been better,” Dhoni said after India lost the fifth Test by an innings and 244 runs.
“Right from the start, our batsmen never really performed, the lower order helped out. That camouflaged the performance of the top order, just scoring 150-60 runs will not be enough to defend against the home team,” he added.
Asked about the English conditions, Dhoni said, “It’s demanding but the wickets were good, nice pace and bounce. In the overcast conditions the fast bowlers get swing and the English bowlers were very consistent.”
The Indian captain though hoped that his young players will take their lessons from the series and play better when they come to England next time.
“We’ve lost a lot of confidence over the five-Test series. It is disappointing, there will be many experiences which the youngsters will learn – not too many have played Tests away from home and hopefully they can take that into the future. “
Dhoni said there was nothing he could have done differently to make things better for his side.
“We did everything we could have done. If we went it with Rohit (Sharma), the difficulty was who to leave out. Ajinkya Rahane had scored a hundred at Lord’s. Pujara bats at numnber three, Virat at four and then myself. Whatever we could have done, we tried,” he said.
Dhoni said not having the experience of playing in England was a factor in his young side’s dismal show. (PTI)
Score board
ndia 1st Innings: 148
Eng 1st Inngs (Ovrngt 385 for 7)
A Cook c Vijay b Aaron 79
Sam Robson b Aaron 37
Ballance c Pujara b Ashwin 64
Ian Bell c Dhoni b Sharma 7
Joe Root not out 149
Moeen Ali b Ashwin 14
J Buttler c Ashwin b Sharma 45
C Woakes c Dhoni b Kumar 0
C Jordan c Dhoni b Sharma 20
S Broad c Kohli b Sharma 37
J Anderson lbw b Ashwin 1
Total: (all out in 116.3 overs) 486
Fall of wickets: 1-66 2-191 3-201 4-204 5-229 6-309 7-318, 8-400, 9-463.
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 24-3-86-1, Ishant Sharma 30-8-96-4, Varun Aaron 29-1-153-2, Binny 12-0-58-0, Ravichandran Ashwin 21.3-2-72-3.
India 2nd Innings:
M Vijay lbw b Anderson 2
G Gambhir run out 3
Pujara c Buttler b Anderson 11
V Kohli c Cook b Jordan 20
Rahane c Ballance b Broad 4
Dhoni c Robson b Woakes 0
S Binny not out 25
R Ashwin c Bell b Jordan 7
Bhuvneshwar c Bell b Jordan 4
Varun Aaron run out 1
Ishant c Ali b Jordan 2
Total (All out in 29.2 overs) 94
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-9, 3-30, 4-45, 5-46, 6-62, 7-70, 8-74, 9-84.
Bowling: J Anderson 8-3-16-2, S Broad 10-2-22-1, C Woakes 7-0-24-1, C Jordan 4.2-0-18-4.