Thursday, September 2, 2010

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has called on the top order to fire if his India side is to get back at Australia in the seven-match ODI series.

The hosts lost by four runs to the Aussies in game one in Vadodara yesterday.

All bar Shane Watson in the Australia top-order contributed to a commanding total of 292 for eight - Ricky Ponting top-scored with 74 while opener Tim Paine made a half-century, Cameron White chipped in with 51 and Michael Hussey scored 73 off just 54 deliveries.

It presented India with a tough task and the only reason the hosts got so close to the total was a tremendous bit of tail wagging led by Harbhajan Singh (49) and Praveen Kumar (40 not out). And Dhoni is adamant that India won’t be forced to rely on bowlers trying to bail out the batsmen again.

“It was the contribution from the lower order which really got us that close,” the India skipper said.

“If you look at it, only (Gautam) Gambhir got a half-century and when you are chasing 290-odd you need the top order to fire.

“We lost four wickets in the powerplay and after that we were really out of the game until Harbhajan and Praveen brought us back. “We need the top batsmen to contribute.”

However he saw enough to be confident that his boys will bounce back.

“You would expect matches to be this close when the two top teams play at this level,” Dhoni added.

“There will be ups and downs through the series.

“But our bowling at the death has to improve. We are learning and we have the experience in the side for us to bounce back.”

India needed nine off the last over from Peter Siddle but the pace ace bowled accurately, conceding just four runs and clean bowling Harbhajan.

Left-hander Gambhir hit 68 to boost India after Australia had removed Virender Sehwag (13) and Sachin Tendulkar (14) cheaply.

Explosive batsman Yuvraj Singh missed the game with a finger injury but Gambhir put on 64 with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (34) for the fourth wicket to keep India in the contest.

Mitchell Johnson then trapped Gambhir LBW with a yorker and had Suresh Raina caught and bowled for nine. Watson followed up by having Dhoni caught at mid-on before Harbhajan and Praveen came together in a 57-ball stand that gave Australia a mighty scare, especially after clubbing Watson for 20 runs in the penultimate over. And Australia skipper Ponting said: “It was a terrific game of cricket in the end and we would have been disappointed had we lost.

“We did a good job batting first to get to that sort of total, but we knew that they could chase it down. “Our performance was pretty good until the last six or seven overs of the game,” Ponting added.