Dhoni takes blame for senseless defeat

‘Harsh steps need to be taken post ODI series’

Former Indian Captian Sunil Gavaskar called for harsh steps against the struggling

Indian team in Australia, saying some of the players have not learnt from their past

mistakes despite making the trip Down Under multiple times. “We have to take harsh

step after the series is done. I am not calling for a complete overhaul but there are

players who have not learnt from their past mistakes,” said Gavaskar. “There are

players who have made 3-4 trips to Australia but they have not learnt from their

mistakes. If we are looking at building a team for the 2019 World Cup, we need to

blood some youngsters.” Gavaskar was more critical of the bowlers who let the

team down and said dropping star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the second

game in a row made little sense. “Not playing Ashwin for the second game in a row

was not a good decision. I feel the conditions in Canberra would have suited him.

Some of other bowlers seem to be making the same mistake over and over again,”

he said.

A dejected Indian captain MS Dhoni took the blame for the team’s astonishing 25-run

defeat. “It was my wicket that turned the game, it’s my role to make sure we finish off

the game. We lost quite a few wickets but mainly it was my wicket,” said Dhoni.

It was a bit surprising to see the skipper talk about positives from the game that they

would like to forget in a hurry. “We are definitely disappointed, but you want to take

the positives. If we could have batted better than we did, this game could have

gotten over in the 46th or the 47th over,” said Dhoni.

“And I feel there were a lot of positives in the game, especially in the batting

department. Rohit’s knock gave the opening push and the partnership between Virat

and Shikhar was fantastic.”

Some of the youngsters like Rishi Dhawan, Gurkeerat Mann were out playing poor

shots but Dhoni defended the duo. “That’s what pressure does to you. A few of them

haven’t played a lot of international cricket. With time, they will realise that they have

to build a partnership and once you get used to the pace and bounce of the wicket,

you play the big shots.”

Dhoni singled out Ravindra Jadeja for some criticism as the all-rounder didn’t rotate

the strike enough nor communicated with the lower order. “He is among the most

experienced among the lower-order batsmen, so he needed to communicate. It is

not only about your batting, you have to guide the people batting with you. So, a bit

more communication will definitely help.

“I don’t think he is someone who really speaks a lot. So that also has to be taken into

account,” said the skipper