Sydney, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on
Thursday ruled out retirement from One day Internationals (ODIs), saying that a
call about hanging up his boots from ODIs will be taken only after the World
T20.“I’m 33, I’m still
running, still fit. Next year, T20 World Cup, will be time to decide about 2019
or not,” said Dhoni, after India failed to reach ICC cricket World Cup
2015 final.
India’s 11-match
winning streak over two World Cups came to a grinding halt as the Men in Blue
faltered in their 329-run chase and were bundled out for 233 in 46.5 overs. Electing to bat,
Australia rode on Steven Smith’s 93-ball 105 to post 328 for seven in 50 overs
and Dhoni opined that the Indian pacers could have bowled better. Captain Dhoni made
no excuses for India’s 95-run loss to Australia but said the fast bowlers could
have done “slightly better” and Shikhar Dhawan should not have attempted a big
shot when they were going smoothly.
“They played very
good cricket, over 300 is always a difficult score, I felt it was just over
par, they could have had 350. We came back quite well but I felt we still could
have bowled better. The spinners performance was good but I feel the fast
bowlers could have done slightly better,” Dhoni said in the post-match
presentation. Dhoni’s run-a-ball
65 stood tall amid a disappointing batting show as he waged a lone battle to
take India past the 200-run mark and make a match of it despite the steep
asking rate. Shikhar Dhawan (45)
and Rohit Sharma (34) started off well with a 76-run opening stand and Ajinkya
Rahane contributed with a patient 44 in the middle overs. The Australian
bowlers kept getting wickets to keep the Indian asking-rate mounting and Dhoni
rued Shikhar’s dismissal. “We started okay
but they bowled well, they got the reverse swing going. We were happy with
where we were at the start of the tournament. We got off to a very good start,
Shikhar’s dismissal was slightly on the softer side, at a time when we could
have had the bowling under pressure. Didn’t really need to play a big shot. But
you get pressure chasing 300+, makes you do things you don’t want to do,” he
said “There was too much
(for me to do), our lower order can’t contribute too much in these conditions.
Most of the good teams bat quite deep,” he added. (Source- www.newsroompost.com)
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