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| Mahela with the MoM trophy on Friday |
Ahmedabad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni doesn’t want to blame the wicket for the dull draw in the opening Test of the series against Sri Lanka. “I have seen flatter wickets than this,” said the India captain at the post-match press conference.
The following are excerpts
The wicket
The wicket was quite flat, but I wouldn’t say it was the flattest wicket I have seen. I think it was on the slower side, and so wasn’t of much help to the spinners. It happens you know.
If such pitches are good for the game
Everyone tries to make a good wicket. At the end of the day, you just don’t know if it will behave in a particular manner. At times, the wickets are too placid. If you leave grass and leave it a bit damp, we have seen that the Test gets over in the first couple of hours. It’s very important to maintain the quality. It is a difficult job for the curator. We shouldn’t really blame the pitch.
If the wicket favoured the fast bowlers
For the fast bowlers, too, the wicket got slower and slower.
The spinners’ performance
I am satisfied with our spinners. Muttiah Muralidharan was in the opposition and even he didn’t get the bounce or turn he is known for. It was difficult for our bowlers to bowl. It was a placid track.
If the Sri Lankan spinners bowled better
I think our spinners are at par with any side that has good spinners. Of course, we bowled a lot more overs. If anything, the Lankans were more accurate.
Kumar Sangakkara saying Sachin Tendulkar wanted to bat in the closing stages
Any batsman has the right to achieve a milestone if he is so close to it.
Gautam Gambhir’s dismissal
He bats that way, uses his feet well... It’s one of his shots, just that it didn’t pay off this time.
The positives
The bowlers are ready to bowl long spells
we bowled 200-odd overs. I don’t expect the same to happen in Kanpur.
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