Win was for the taking, laments India captain Dhoni

Umesh Yadav

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – India captain MS Dhoni  gave a frank assessment of his team’s fourth day collapse to  lose the first test against Australia, saying the Melbourne  Cricket Ground wicket was benign enough to reel in the victory  target.

Chasing 292 to win, India were bundled out for 169 yesterday after their formidable batting lineup crumbled in the  face of a spirited onslaught from pace trio Peter Siddle, James  Pattinson and Ben Hilfenhaus.

“I think they bowled a really good line close to that  off-stump area… I think the length and line they bowled was  very crucial,” Dhoni told reporters following the 122-run  defeat.

Umesh Yadav

“We thought if we could get them out for 240 or 250-odd runs  that’s a very gettable score, but I felt 290-odd runs was also a  score we should have achieved.

“The wicket was pretty good. It’s not like there was too  much wear and tear in the wicket. I think our batting line  flopped in both the innings.
“In the second innings, we kept falling at regular intervals  which meant getting close to 300-odd runs was becoming more and  more difficult.”

The laid back wicketkeeper-captain mounted a more spirited  defence of his bowlers, who managed to bowl Australia out twice  after being dogged by injury concerns in the leadup, but also  failed to efficiently clean up Australia’s tail in both innings.

Rangy 24-year-old paceman Umesh Yadav was impressive in just  his third test, taking seven wickets, while Zaheer Kahn also  took seven, the left-armer showing he had lost none of his guile  after a four-month lay-off from injury.

Paceman Ishant Sharma, who was troubled by an ankle injury  prior to the start of the four-match series, bowled a far  lighter load in the second innings and only took two wickets,  but Dhoni dismissed concerns about his fitness.

“The big positive to win a test match you need to take 20  wickets and we have been able to do that in this particular test  match,” Dhoni said.
“The scores that the opposition got were something that we  could have achieved if we had batted well.

“We are hoping that the mistakes that we committed in this  particular game, we work on it and don’t repeat it in the next  game that starts in Sydney (on Jan. 3).”