By: Tarish Bhatt
It was a superb fightback from South Africa in the later part of the Indian innings, but much like everyone skipper MS Dhoni also feels India should have ended the game on a winning note.
In the post-match presentation, the India captain pointed out the reasons of India’s defeat and one of them was missing off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin because of a side strain, which has ruled him out of the entire series now.
“The outcome was not great for us, there were plenty that went wrong, but we showed character to get close,” MS Dhoni said. “Frankly we should have won this game.”
“We missed Ash’s six overs that was crucial because he was our best spinner, until that point the plan was working beautifully but I had to get more overs from Binny and Raina.”
Despite not having Ravichandran Ashwin to deploy, MS Dhoni feels the the bowlers, especially in the death, should have bowled better as the ball was reversing.
“In the end I thought our bowlers should have done a bit better,” he added. “I thought the partnership between Rohit and Rahane was superb to keep it ticking.”
It was classic ‘MS Dhoni and the wire’ show at the end of the chase, but the Captain Cool failed to take the team over the line, as Kagiso Rabada delivered a superb last over to snatch the game from India’s jaws.
“It was a bit difficult, it was not coming at a good height so it becomes difficult on such a wicket, it was a bit two paced once the ball gets scuffed,” MS Dhoni said. “A lot depends on the execution part, it’s not only about the boundaries you have to keep the score ticking.”
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