Hamilton: India will have to make a few changes ahead of the third one-dayer against New Zealand to bring their campaign back on track in the five-match ODI series, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said today.
India were today dethroned as the number one ODI team after they suffered an agonising 15-run defeat in the rain-hit second ODI against New Zealand, who have now taken a 2-0 lead.
“Of course, we will have to change a few things and see how we are going to play our cricket. That is something that will be crucial. There have been a few things that have not gone our way but it is very important that if you get a chance you win the game,” Dhoni said.
Talking about the morale of the side, Dhoni said his boys are mentally tough and they always keep a positive dressing room environment.
“As far as the morale is concerned, it is a fantastic lively dressing room. What we always emphasise on is cricket is not something that should have a lot of effect on the dressing room atmosphere,” the 32-year-old skipper said.
“Yes, they are linked but it should not be like when you are performing well, you have a different dressing room and when you are not, the entire scenario changes. We have been able to keep a good dressing room atmosphere, does not matter if we are winning or losing,” he said.
After their second consecutive loss against New Zealand, Dhoni, however, asked his batsmen, especially openers, to pull up their socks and convert the starts into big scores.
"When it comes to our openers, they fought out the first 10 overs but I felt that it was very important they could have carried on for another 10-15 overs so that from the 22nd or 25th over onwards, we should have started to hit out, but it does not always go according to plan," Dhoni said.
“We got off to a good start in terms of not losing wickets. But if you are supposed to score 290-odd when you are chasing, and in the first ten we are 38-odd runs and two wickets down, it becomes quite difficult for the middle order especially on a wicket which became slightly two-paced with the drizzle,” Dhoni said.
“Once we got off to a start, the openers should have carried on for a bit longer so that they could have played a few more shots, scored a few more runs and taken a bit of pressure off from the middle order.
“The batsmen are getting some kind of a start but we are not able to convert those starts into 50s or 75s or big partnerships. I feel it is very crucial that once you get off to a good start it is important you make a big partnership,” he said after India lost by 19 runs via D/L method.
