Bangalore: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted that 133 was not a defendable total on this Chinnaswamy track as the hosts went down by five wickets in the first Twenty20 International.
“We should have got more runs. We got a good start, fantastic effort by the openers but then we kept losing wickets after that. We were short by 10 or 15 more runs which we should have got easily. 145 would have been a safe score on this track,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Indian spinners Yuvraj Singh and Ravindra Jadeja bowled plenty of long hops and Dhoni did mention that without taking any names.
“Our bowlers needed to pitch the ball up and not bowl short.”
India’s Captain M S Dhoni talks to Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal after he exchanged words with India’s Ishant Sharma during the 1st T20 match in Bengaluru. PTI
About giving Ravindra Jadeja the last over, Dhoni defended stating,”We took the gamble some three or four overs before that in finishing quota of fast bowlers. At that time, Pakistan were scoring at a high pace, we had to take that gamble.”
Pakistan captain Mohammed Hafeez, who won the man-of-the-match award, said,”It is a great effort as we wanted to do well at the start of the series. Mohammed Irfan was the surprise package for us and everybody. We knew that we had a good attack with Umar Gul who has always been good with the old ball.”
“Our bowlers restricted India where we wanted them to. Once the spinners came on, after the new ball, we knew we had a chance, we took a risk at the right time. It is a gift for the whole nation.”
Shoaib Malik said that he merely played according to situation.
“When you are playing against India, pressure is always there. I played according to the situation as we were struggling against that debutant (Bhuvneshwar). Hafeez played a brilliant innings.”
On a cheeky note, he was asked whether one member in his family (obvious reference to wife Sania Mirza) was happy that Pakistan have won, Malik replied with a smile,”I scored runs. Obviously, everyone will be happy.”
PTI
