India captain MS Dhoni insists his beleaguered side won't throw in the towel in their last two one-day matches against England after suffering a three-wicket defeat at The Oval on Friday
India captain MS Dhoni insists his beleaguered side won't throw in the towel in their last two one-day matches against England after suffering a three-wicket defeat at The Oval on Friday.
India skipper MS Dhoni
India had battled back from 58-5 to post a respectable total of 234-7 in their 50 overs thanks to 78 from Ravindra Jadeja and 69 from Dhoni. But the world champions' hopes of recording a first win over England on this tour were dashed as Craig Kieswetter blasted 51 from 46 balls to get the hosts off to a good start before Ravi Bopara's 40 from 41 balls saw them reach the Duckworth-Lewis target of 218 with seven balls to spare.
Dhoni admitted his side were outplayed. "It's not like we didn't try. We have been outplayed and haven't had the luck at times but the morale is quite good. It is important not to get depressed."
"You have to be at your best in the whole match, we gave away a lot of runs in the first 10 overs and it is not the first time it has happened," Dhoni said.
"The other problem was we didn't get a good start to our innings. Hardly any batsman scored and it was down to the lower order that we got up to 230."
India's best chance to get back in the match came when Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin found some spin under the lights and reduced England to 133-5. But an hour's rain delay allowed England to recover their composure, leaving Dhoni to reflect on the few positives.
"The biggest positive is it looks as if we have the five bowlers. We were struggling with the fifth bowler, someone will have an off-day and go for runs and in that case you need an extra bowler. Jadeja scoring runs was also a positive," added Dhoni.
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