MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni
Hamilton: India will have to make a few changes ahead of the third one-dayer against New Zealand to bring their campaign back on track in the five-match ODI series, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said today.
India were today dethroned as the number one ODI team after they suffered an agonising 15-run defeat in the rain-hit second ODI against New Zealand, who have now taken a 2-0 lead.
"Of course, we will have to change a few things and see how we are going to play our cricket. That is something that will be crucial. There have been a few things that have not gone our way but it is very important that if you get a chance you win the game," Dhoni said.
Talking about the morale of the side, Dhoni said his boys are mentally tough and they always keep a positive dressing room environment.
"As far as the morale is concerned, it is a fantastic lively dressing room. What we always emphasise on is cricket is not something that should have a lot of effect on the dressing room atmosphere," the 32-year-old skipper said.
"Yes, they are linked but it should not be like when you are performing well, you have a different dressing room and when you are not, the entire scenario changes. We have been able to keep a good dressing room atmosphere, does not matter if we are winning or losing," he said.
After their second consecutive loss against New Zealand, Dhoni, however, asked his batsmen, especially openers, to pull up their socks and convert the starts into big scores.
"We got off to a good start in terms of not losing wickets. But if you are supposed to score 290-odd when you are chasing, and in the first ten we are 38-odd runs and two wickets down, it becomes quite difficult for the middle order especially on a wicket which became slightly two-paced with the drizzle," Dhoni said.
"Once we got off to a start, the openers should have carried on for a bit longer so that they could have played a few more shots, scored a few more runs and taken a bit of pressure off from the middle order.
"The batsmen are getting some kind of a start but we are not able to convert those starts into 50s or 75s or big partnerships. I feel it is very crucial that once you get off to a good start it is important you make a big partnership," he said after India lost by 19 runs via D/L method.
New Zealand were placed at 170/2 when the rain interrupted play in the 34th over and afterwards the match was reduced to 42 overs per side, and they scored 101 runs in the last eight overs. The D/L method set 297 as the target for India which proved to be too much for the Men in Blue.
Dhoni, however, didn't put the blame on his bowlers.
"There will always be pressure on the bowlers because you are always going to have a batting heavy side and the new ODI rule changes it has really affected us. More often than not we are seeing high run chases, over 280 at least most of the game we have played," he said.
"But our death bowling has improved a lot if we compare it to what was happening maybe six months back. What you are seeing close to 300 runs, you may see it as slightly expensive, but if we do not bowl as well as we are bowling in the last few overs, it may go in excess of 340. That puts some serious pressure on the batsmen. We have seen improvement. There is still scope for improvement," Dhoni added.
Dhoni also believed that incessant rain-breaks affected his side's momentum in the day-night game at Seddon Park.
"Whenever it is a rain-obstructed game, if the number of overs gets reduced, the second team has a benefit if straight away it becomes a 20-over game because you know your target and you have ten wickets. But anything from close to 10 or 15 overs getting deducted then you have a bit of a disadvantage because you have to start off really well and carry on the momentum throughout those 35 overs," he opined.
India will next play New Zealand in the third ODI at Auckland.
We delivered at key times under pressure: McCullum
We delivered at key times under pressure: McCullum
Hamilton: New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum today said his team delivered at "key times" under pressure during their 15-run victory against India in the second cricket one-dayer here to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
It was again the near-perfect game for the Black Caps where they built on a solid platform provided by Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor in the middle-order, and then Corey Anderson launched an all-out assault at the death.
New Zealand followed it up with a disciplined performance with the ball, getting key wickets when it mattered the most.
"I thought under pressure, against a very good Indian batting line-up, we delivered at key times. It's big from a confidence point of view. We have just got to challenge now to put it together again in a few days' time," McCullum said at the post-match press conference.
India made a valiant effort to overhaul the revised target of 297 in 42 overs in a rain-truncated game but failed to cross the finishing line scoring 277 for nine in 41.3 overs. The Duckworth-Lewis par score in 41.3 overs was 293.
McCullum praised his batsmen for setting up the win with a competitve total against a packed Indian batting line-up.
"I am really pleased with the way we constructed our innings again. It was mainly through the partnership of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor. Martin Guptill played his hand as well and again they gave us the platform from where to launch in the death overs. And whilst the game was shortened, we were still in a nice position to do so. The batting blueprint was again executed tonight, which was encouraging obviously," he said.
While the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed his openers for not converting their starts, his counterpart was of the opinion that early wickets played a vital role in setting up the win for New Zealand.
"Ideally you want to take wickets up front and that's where we spend our resources, trying to attack early on knowing how important wickets are to the confidence of a team chasing.
"We weren't able to take early wickets but we did the next best thing which is to control the run rate. And when you control the run rate, there is pressure on the batsman and the wickets sort of followed after that. I thought it was a pretty good performance from us with the ball under pressure," he said.
McCullum said the wickets of Virat Kohli and Dhoni proved crucial who again anchored a spirited run-chase for the second time in two games. Both made fifties but could not save India from the defeat.
"We continue to learn that Kohli and Dhoni are very, very good players. They are obviously very good at how to construct a run chase. It's quite important to try and take wickets knowing that if you can remove one of those two, it goes a long way towards nullifying their chase," he said.
"They are a very good team. There are not too many teams around the world where you head in at half-time in a 42-over game with 300 on the board and you know that you still have to scrap pretty hard with the ball and in the field. Against this team, we know that's the case and thankfully we got it done under pressure today," he added.
Anderson was one of the main attractions for the Kiwis, once again setting up their total with 44 runs off only 17 balls, and then taking 3-67 during the Indian chase.
McCullum said the all-rounder gave the side a much-needed momentum to help them reach the "big score".
"Obviously his batting was brilliant again. He is such a clean striker and given that license, he can be incredibly damaging. With the ball, he did not start that well. One of the things we are trying to do is to ensure that you keep giving guys opportunities even though they may not start well but you need to keep coming back them. Otherwise they will never get the opportunity to learn either.
"So that's one thing that we are pretty keen on, still allowing him to have that opportunity under pressure at the end there to really stand up and show how he can operate under pressure. I thought he did that really well. I think he learnt quite a lot with the ball in hand today," he said.
McCullum also praised pacer Tim Southee, who picked up 4-72, including his 100th ODI wicket in 76 matches.
"It was a really good performance and it is a nice milestone for him to celebrate. His career so far has been a little bit stop-start but he has shown that when he is fit and bowling well, how important he is to our side. He is a strong leader too within the bowling group for quite a young guy.
"It's nice to see him get some personal satisfaction with knocking off that milestone today. I thought his performance was really good for us and set us up quite nicely and in a different role too, bowling at first-change."
( Source : PTI )
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