Dhoni blames bowlers for loss against Pakistan

CENTURION - India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has blamed the bowlers for his side’s 54-run loss to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy.

The Indian bowlers were smacked all over the ground by the Pakistani batsmen, who piled on 302 runs batting first at the SuperSport Park here Saturday.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh conceded 71 runs from 10 overs with Rudra Pratap Singh, Yusuf Pathan and Ashish Nehra each dishing out over 50 runs each.

“I was feeling not one bowler short but three bowlers short. It was tough to set a field for them,” Dhoni said.

“Whatever field you gave them, it didn’t work. You can give the field but can’t really bowl for anyone. We bowled very short and gave away a lot of runs towards backward point region. Our bowlers had bowled on bouncy wickets but could not adjust to bowl on a track where they needed to bowl up,” Dhoni said.

“We gave away too many runs. The shots were going in the area when there was no field. It was really tough out there.”

Dhoni also felt he lacked effective part-time bowlers.

“I brought part-timers from the two ends, as I have seen when you bring a part-timer with Harbhajan Singh, the batsmen usually see off Bhajji and milk the other bowler,” Dhoni said.

“Besides, I didn’t want a situation where a part-timer is brought on after the 40th over,” he said.

Asked why Sachin Tendulkar’s was not used as a part-timer, Dhoni said: “Tendulkar has a shoulder injury and he can’t consistently bowl. He is our main batsman and we don’t want him injured.”

Dhoni said he missed Yuvraj Singh as he can do the containing job when the batsmen go on the offensive.

“Yuvraj bowls six or seven useful overs and today I missed that option.”