“In the first innings they got off to a decent start but were not able to capitalise on it and fell 50 runs short.”
“In the second innings, wickets kept falling at regular intervals which meant getting close to 300 odd runs was becoming more and more difficult.”
“But I felt 290-odd was also a score we should have achieved. The wicket was good, it was not like there was too much wear and tear on the wicket. I think the batting line-up flopped in both the innings.”, reckoned Dhoni.
Sehwag had yesterday said that anything under 300 was gettable. But what happened with India’s batting was a script familiar to all of us. From being in a position of advantage, India experienced a catastrophic batting collapse.
To say the Indian batsmen failed is to reduce sport to the simplistic. Dhoni also credited the opposition bowlers for the way they scythed through the reputed Indian batting line up.
“You need to give credit to the opposition bowlers because of the line and length they bowled.”
“I think they bowled really well. They pushed the batsmen to play most of their deliveries and at the same time the batsmen had to guess whether the ball was coming in or going out.”
The experience of just two test matches notwithstanding, James Pattinson kept the Indian batsmen at bay all the time. The likes of Dravid and Laxman appeared twitchy against the 21-year old. Tendulkar was the only batsmen who felt comfortable handling him.
“For me it’s a dream come true to play for Australia and to be out there on Boxing Day, and against India with that batting line-up,” the 21-year-old Pattinson said.
Just three games old, he has already bagged three 5-fors and a 4-for and in this game he hung in there with Hussey in the second innings when 30 runs could have made a difference. In the first innings, he finished unbeaten on 18 and in the second he was not out on 37, one of only four men to reach double figures.
“I think I wasn’t even born when Sachin started playing cricket, so to go out there and bowl against him, and have some success against their batsmen and get a win is even better.”
Skipper Michael Clarke attributed the success to their preparation methods but at the same time he was also wary about preparing for the next game.
“They executed (plans) very well in this Test match,” Clarke told reporters. “We deserve this win because of the amount of effort and time we’ve put into our preparation, but it means nothing come Sydney.”
“It’s certainly a time to enjoy the success of this first Test match, but once tonight has gone it’s about reassessing, working out how we’re going to improve on this and come out all guns blazing in Sydney and try to win another Test match.”
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