Indore: Indian skipper played with patience to score 92 off 86 balls that helped India win the second ODI against South Africa by 22 runs at Holkar cricket Stadium, Indore on Wednesday. Though India were able to level the five-match ODI series 1-1, Dhoni, not a man to mince words, said that it wasn’t a convincing win for India and that they could have done better.
“It wasn’t an easy game played. A lot of people wait with open swords and want you to make mistakes. We should have got more with the bats. We didn't start well with our bowling, but our spinners did well and pacers also came into action later on. Overall not a very convincing win but a good win. However, we can play a lot better,” said, Dhoni who was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match for his superb knock.
He added ytha India were not playing to their capacity. “We aren’t playing even 80% of our capabilities, both, in batting or bowling. As a complete batting unit we didn't perform well. However, we bounced back well. We knew we needed two good deliveries when Tahir and Rabada were batting. I won't say the game was in our hands but we had a good chance if we bowled in the right areas and needed only two good deliveries,” Dhoni said.
Talking about the batting and bowling of his team, he said “It doesn't always go your way. The top order has been scoring loads of runs in the last 2-2.5 years, so lower order doesn't get a big chance to bat. Apart from Suresh there's nobody who loves to do that kind of a job when you go out and you just have to go for the big hits. The pace was very important on this wicket and the length too. Axar is not a big turner of the ball and he pitched it in the right areas. Bhajji has the experience and they didn't try too many different things. Overall they did a good job.”
Meanwhile South African skipper AB De Villiers said that it was a bad performance from his team. “The target was manageable but it was a poor batting performance from us. We couldn't extend it after the opening partnership. You have to stay positive no matter what total you are chasing. We couldn't execute well.”