Mirpur, Mar 13: Even though India comfortably won by 50 runs in their Asia Cup opener against Sri Lanka, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels that it is “difficult” to defend totals at the Shere-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur considering it has a “very fast outfield.”
“It is a difficult to bowl second on this ground. The outfield is really fast and the ball is coming onto the bat pretty well. So bowlers will have to be at their best when bowling second. Hopefully, as the tournament progresses, it will slow down a bit,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Dhoni did admit that he was a bit worried when Mahela Jayawardene was sending the Indian bowlers on a leatherhunt.
“It was difficult considering that Mahela was batting really well. The wicket had changed a bit and the ball was coming onto the bat nicely. Praveen had an off-day today and Jadeja also went for runs. At that time, I was effectively two bowlers short and had to bring back my part-timers. Credit to Praveen that he came back well in the second spell and was nicely supported by Irfan and Vinay,” the skipper said.
Dhoni lauded the 205-run second wicket partnership between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir.
“We have always depended on our top-order batsmen to give us good starts. Gautam batted really well and Virat also ran well between the wickets. If you look at their partnership, there were many singles and twos in the first 75 runs. They had to stay till the end and they did that. It set up a nice platform for me and Raina to play our shots,” the skipper said.
Asked about the confidence gained from beating Sri Lanka,he said, “In Australia also, we had lost just one match against them. But today they missed two of their key players Malinga and Mathews. So it was difficult for them.”
