Mumbai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni described the defeat against South Africa on Sunday as one of India’s worst ever performances in recent times.
Losing by 214 runs at the Wankhede, India lost the ODI series 2-3. Batting first, South Africa piled up a mammoth score of 438 for four. In reply, India could make 224 all out in 35.1 overs.
India’s World Cup-winning captain cited the absence of a strike bowler as one of the reasons behind the series loss on the home turf. “We have not been able to get a good strike bowler. We are lacking in consistency in terms of death bowling. I think that is something which is important to sit and analyse upon. We have been struggling with it for quite some time. We have tried all our options, but we are not getting the desired results,” said Dhoni.
“We are not short of motivation… We are struggling without good a seaming all-rounder. Our lower order batting is also on the lighter side when it comes to facing top quality pace bowlers.
“We have changed the batting line-up to see who fits in well in different slots. We are looking for a solution and I hope we will come up with one soon,” Dhoni said.
The captain, however, praised the spinners for their overall effort in the series. “I think the spinners fought hard throughout the series. We knew that on this wicket, which was on the flatter side, it was easy to hit sixes. Overall, nothing worked for us. This game was completely taken away from us. It does happen in cricket… Our performance was so bad that I don’t even call it a performance,” he said.
Asked why India has been losing so many ODIs recently, Dhoni said: “Our team does not look settled at the moment. Some players are coming up… We are going through a process. I know Indian cricket is all about results, but you have to give time.
“Whether you like it or not, Stuart Binny is now the best option as a seaming all-rounder and Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel are the best available spinning all-rounders,” Dhoni said.
Dhoni was also upset by the fielding lapses which gave the visitors the opportunity to post a big total. In all, the Indians dropped five catches.
“This is the worst fielding effort I have ever seen,” said Dhoni. “Chasing 439 was very difficult, almost an impossible task. Coming in to bat with such a huge target really puts pressure on the team. There was a time when I thought things were under control… I was not too worried up to 20-25 overs. I felt that even a score of 350 could be chased by our batsmen.
“But in the later stages, they started scoring 10 to 15 runs per over… Things went out of our hand then. You can’t chase 400…,” he said.
