Tag 2nd-test-2011

It's a different fact all together that even England had one of their main bowler (Graeme Swann) almost absent during this second test match yet won with 3 bowlers, Indian captain MS Dhoni had a getaway as he took on the press in post match conference but instead, he blamed his batsmen for the ugly defeat of 319 runs at Trent Bridge..

Dhoni said; “There were quite a few things that were bothering us. Missing one of your key fast bowlers, when you play with four bowlers, it becomes a bit difficult to manoeuvre things.

“But still, I think the bowlers took up the responsibility, they had to bowl a lot of overs and they still got us breakthroughs at the valuable times.

“The other important thing is it’s important to score runs and put them on the board, we are slightly lacking that right from the last series that we played.

“We have not really scored consistently so that’s also a bit of a concern.”

Interestingly, Dhoni himself has only made 49 runs from 4 innings on the tour so far including a first ball duck in last innings when Indians folded up for just 158.

It must be note that tourists’ campaign has been struck by injuries, with Virender Sehwag ruled out prior to the series commencing, while Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir suffered hamstring and elbow problems in the first Test at Lord’s to sit of of Nottingham clash.

Dhoni expects to welcome back Gambhir for the third Test at Edgbaston and although Sehwag is expected to fly to England tomorrow, the skipper did not know whether the opener or pace spearhead Zaheer Khan will be available.

“You have two openers and then all of a sudden, you miss one opener, then Rahul (Dravid), who has batted really well at number three has to open the innings and (VVS) Laxman has to bat at number three so there’s undue pressure on you,” added Dhoni.

Seamers Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan showed their all-round capabilities with the former coming to England’s rescue in the first innings with a knock of 64 to lift England from 124 for eight to 221 all out and Dhoni admitted that the lower order runs were crucial.

“If you see their batting order, they bat quite deep. Maybe Anderson is the only one who doesn’t bat to some extent but I think they really bat deep and in the first innings they were eight down for 120-odd runs and still they were able to score hundred more runs,” said the wicketkeeper-batsman.

“The bowlers tried whatever they could - tried to pitch it up, bowl short deliveries, tried not to let the opposition score big shots but we were not really successful. I think those 100 runs really mattered.”