Dew played a huge role in loss: Dhoni

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: January 6, 2010

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Mirpur: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said after India’s five wicket loss to Sri Lanka in their opening match of the tri-series that dew played a crucial role in the result, adding that the team might request the organisers for an early start to the remaining matches.

“It was always going to be difficult to defend a total like 280-285. Dew became a huge factor. We knew we had to pick early wickets. After the first 10 overs there was nothing for the bowlers,” Dhoni said. “We can make a request for an early start but if you have to play at the same time, you have to come up with something else.”

Elaborating his point, Dhoni said the Indian bowlers cannot be blamed for not being able to defend a total of 279 because it was very difficult to grip the ball.

“It was difficult for the spinners to grip the ball. The ball kept slipping out. There was no yorkers, no reverse-swing and no spin for my bowlers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara was all smiles after the win and he lavished praise on centurion Thilan Samaraweera and youngster Thissara Perera whose unbeaten 15-ball 36 took the game away from India.

“All credit to Sammy for batting through, and Perera played superbly too. When we started out in the morning, it was like ‘here we go again’, but (Chanaka) Welegedara did well to bring us back in. Suraj Randiv bowled well, and I think our fielding was much better. The attitude of the players was brilliant, we were out there to win,” Sangakkara said.

Man of the Match Thilan Samaraweera thanked his teammates for the win and said his second ODI century was all the more memorable since it came for a winning cause. “I knew it was a matter of having partnerships. At the top, I had one with Sangakkara and then Perera played a great knock down the order. My plan was to hang around till the 44th over and then take it from there. In the batting powerplay, I knew we can get 50-60 runs from 30 balls,” said the right-hander.

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