Pune: India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni remained positive and said the surprise defeat to Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 international has given them the chance to assess the team's batting frailty ahead of the big-ticket World T20.
India's winning sequence in T20 internationals came to an embarrassing end last night after a depleted Sri Lanka pulled off an upset five-wicket victory to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
"The good thing is this is the type of pitch on which we have not played for a long time. There were a lot of positives. It was one day everyone got a chance to bat. At the same time there was pressure on all batsmen. Yes, the result did not go our way, but there were a lot of positives to take away from this game," said Dhoni at the post-game media conference.
"It's rare that in a twenty over game all wickets fall. I don't think it's a bad idea to test everyone. Because it will give us an idea about how deep is our batting. If the top order keeps performing from now on itself, the lower order will not get an exposure and the chance to bat and get tested before the T20 World Cup," he said.
Put into bat on a lively track, which had fair amount of bounce and seam movement, India were skittled out for a paltry 101 in 18.5 overs with the rookie pace trio of Kasun Rajitha (3/29), Dashun Shanaka (3/16) and Dushmantha Chameera (2/14) doing bulk of the damage.
Sri Lanka reached the target with two overs to spare.
Dhoni said, "This is a different format. Accordingly we will have to adjust. We should not be looking into the 50-over format. In this format if someone gets 10 off 2 balls we say well played. What is important is we have to see how the wicket behaves. If you chase 140 there is no point in trying to win in 12 or 13 overs. Better to aim for 16th or 17th over. All these things will be a factor (going forward)," he added.
The hosts were 72 for 8 before top-scorer Ravichandran Ashwin, who made 31 not out in 24 balls, took the score to 100.
