By IANS
Bangalore : India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said Saturday that his bowlers didn’t bowl well in the middle overs which helped the Australians pile up an imposing total of 307 for eight in the first one-day international that was called off due to rain and a wet field at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here.
“It was a good start for us but the middle overs were not good. If we had picked up a wicket in the middle overs, it would have been better,” said Dhoni at a post match press conference.
Dhoni made his debut as one-day captain after he led a young team to the Twenty20 triumph. The match was called off after rain played spoilsport.
But the feel good factor of the Indian team was shattered by Australian Michael Clarke, who made his highest one-day score of 130 (132 balls, 10x4s, 3x6s) and guided his team to a challenging 307 for the loss of seven wickets in 50 overs.
The Indians got good movement from the pitch but were undisciplined in line and length, especially Sreesanth. But still the Kochi guy was successful enough to give the breakthroughs and scalped three for 55 from his 10 overs.
“Initially he had trouble in controlling the swing but came back strongly to give us the wicket when we needed,” said Dhoni in praise of the fast bowler.
Stand-in Australian captain Adam Gilchrist was disappointed that there was no result from the match, but had words of praise for Clarke, Brad Haddin (69) and James Hopes (37).
“I think our middle order was in a strong position. The guys were given an opportunity and they really played well,” said Gilchrist.
Haddin came in as a replacement for regular skipper Ricky Ponting and Gilchrist said: “Haddin was a bolt from the blue.”
He also added that the depth of the Australian batting challenged the Indians and will continue to do so in the rest of the series.
Both the teams now move to Kochi for the second match of the series Tuesday.