Hyderabad. Nov. 16: With the second Test ending in a dull draw, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni felt a result on this pitch would have been possible had it been a 10-day Test.
“We need to increase the number of days from five to 10 to get a result out of the Tests. The wickets were flat in the last two matches that we have played. But, given the conditions, I thought that both teams did well here,” Dhoni said at the end of the day’s play on Tuesday.
Asked if he had given any special orders to the curator while preparing the wicket, Dhoni replied in the negative.
“It’s very difficult to change the nature of a wicket in a short duration of time. The wickets here have been batsmen-friendly even when we played here earlier during ODIs and IPL games. We knew that it would remain the same in the Test too,” Dhoni said.
Despite the flat nature of the track, the wicketkeeper-batsman patted his bowlers for a good show.
“I think our bowlers did the best they could,” Dhoni said. He reserved special praise for left-armer Pragyan Ojha. “I think Ojha is one bowler who can contain the opposition and keep them quiet. He did a really good job,” he said.
Dhoni was not surprised at the Kiwis’ resistance in the series so far. “They (New Zealand) batted very well. If you see, in the last 2-3 years, the wickets have been consistently flat in India and there is not much assistance for the bowlers. The foreign sides are not under pressure anymore,” Dhoni said.
He added that on the fifth day, it was crucial to have taken a few wickets in the first two hours of play, which never happened. “Had we got a few breakthroughs in the first two hours of play, the situation would have been different,” Dhoni said.
Despite Harbhajan Singh coming good with the willow, Dhoni did not buy the theory of going into a game with five bowlers.
“It’s a tough call. We are quite happy to play with four bowlers. Also, giving Bhajji the responsibility of scoring runs will be a bit difficult,” Dhoni observed.
Asked whether the side missed Zaheer’s presence in the field, the skipper said, “Zaheer had a groin problem and it was more of a preventive measure. If it was a tear, then he would be out of action for two-three months. In the last few years, Zaheer has been our spearhead and has managed to get us wickets on all surfaces. So, we missed him.”
On the crowd in Hyderabad, Dhoni said, “The crowd was very supportive. It was almost house full on Sunday and even on other days, there was a lot cheering for us, which was impressive.”