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ShareNew Delhi: India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was thoroughly satisfied with the six-wicket victory at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Saturday, but he would have enjoyed it more had Man of the Match Yuvraj Singh stayed with him till the end.
"Yuvraj batted very well. He played his natural game and considering that there were a lot of runs on the board, we had a tough task at hand. I wish he had remained not out till the end along with me," said Dhoni after guiding the team through with an unbeaten knock of 70 during which he added 148 for the fourth wicket with Yuvraj.
"With seven wickets in hand and a power play to go, we decided to play the better bowlers safely and then get after the other bowlers at the first opportunity. Though our partnership was crucial, I would say everybody contributed in the win including most of our bowlers," he said.
Dhoni conceded that the dew factor had helped them a bit. "But if not for the dew, which made bowling a little difficult, a target of 220 or 230 would have been very difficult to chase," said Dhoni. His counterpart Ricky Ponting too felt that the dew had been a factor but had no qualms in admitting that his team had been outplayed.
"We thought we had posted a decent total but Yuvraj and Dhoni really made batting look much easier than it actually was. I thought 230 was a better- than-par score but in hindsight, we should have got 20 or 25 runs more," said Ponting, who felt that a change of ball in the 34th over of the Indian innings changed the tempo of the match.
"We thought we were very much in the game before the partnership between Yuvraj and Dhoni even though we knew that the Indians are capable of really turning the match around. Hopefully, we will get a better pitch at Mohali and we will live up to the challenge there," he added.
