12 July,2011 08:30 AM IST | | IANS
India coach Duncan Fletcher defended skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision not to go for a win in the the third Test against the West Indies, saying the pitch at the Windsor Park was difficult to bat on.
Dhoni baffled everybody by calling off the match with 15 overs left. India needed 86 runs from 90 balls to win the series 2-0. Fletcher said with three wickets down, India couldn't have risked losing the match. "I said before. It (run-scoring on that pitch) was difficult. Once it got to four or five runs per over, we were struggling to score. We were struggling to score three runs per over. The side decided it was difficult to get those runs and thought what's the point in going there and ending up maybe with just one side able to winning it," said a grumpy Fletcher.
With questions flying thick and fast, Fletcher was fed up and said: "Huh... I have covered it. I have been repeating myself the whole time. I have told you, it was difficult to score runs. A man at 40 struggling to score three runs an over, how can you expect someone to go in there and knock five or six runs an over?"
