By IANS,
Wellington : Despite losing the two Twenty20 international matches in the series against New Zealand, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni asked his boys not to loose heart and gear up for the one-day and Test series starting Monday.
“It is great to play a few Twenty20 games before the one-dayers. There is no point in sulking and complaining that we lost two games,” Dhoni said after his team lost by five wickets in the second Twenty20 at the Westpac Stadium here Friday.
The Indian captain was all praise for his bowlers, who stretched the match to its final delivery.
“I am really proud of the side. The way we came back after the first three or four overs was encouraging. I thought Harbhajan (Singh) and (Ravindra) Jadeja were fantastic. It was sad to lose Ishant (Sharma) to a shoulder injury.
“Zaheer’s second spell was amazing. He gave his full effort and was at his best. Irfan (Pathan) too came back well in his last two overs. However, we can do better in the batting. We are a much more talented batting unit than them,” Dhoni said.
Ishant injured his right shoulder while fielding and the degree of the injury could only be known after a thorough assessment by the team physio.
“We don’t know the extent of injury. We will issue a statement after the doctor’s assessment,” Dhoni said.
Dhoni also said that the Twenty20 matches have helped his team to adapt to the conditions in New Zealand and the experience will help them during the one-dayers and the Test matches.
“I am happy with the preparation and the effort. Most of the guys have spent a reasonable time at the wicket. They know how the wickets will behave and this will be of great help when the one-day series comes around,” he said.
The one-day series starts Monday with a day-night encounter at Napier.