July 22: Skipper MS Dhoni blamed Thursday’s 10-wicket defeat at Sri Lanka’s hands on India’s inability to put together partnerships. This was India’s third straight loss in the first Test of a series in Sri Lanka. In assessing the debacle, Dhoni also paid tribute to 800-wicket man Muthiah Muralitharan.
Excerpts:
On the defeat: Whenever we had a partnership, they came up with a beautiful delivery. We were never able to get any partnerships going. Some of the deliveries they bowled were really difficult to keep out. Malinga with that action is difficult to pick and he got reverse swing going. Once you lose your top six or top seven batsmen without many runs on the board, it gets very difficult.
On Murali’s performance: I think he did really well, as an opponent you always want to stave off the main bowler. He bowled really well to get those eight wickets. I am really happy that at the end of his Test career he has got to 800 wickets.
On countering Malinga: There is nothing different that you have to do. Just have to educate yourself as to where the delivery point is. But at times you do miss a delivery because of his unique action. You have to keep five or six deliveries out, and maybe then you can educate yourself.
On missing an all-rounder and playing five bowlers: You have to see your team, and that has been the theory that has worked for us. We will stick to it unless we find a perfect all-rounder, which doesn’t really look like the case right now.
On losing the No.1 ranking: We will take care of the game, the ratings will take care of themselves. We know what we need to do well on the field, what went wrong in this game should be avoided. We will try to solve those problems.