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Journalism of Courage
Losing Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan in successive overs cost India the second Twenty20 match against New Zealand,according to captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who said a better display by the pacers could have tilted the game in his team8217;s favour.
Dhoni felt the team got off to a decent start and as long as he and Yuvrai Singh were in the middle,there was nothing to panic about. But losing both Yuvraj and Yusuf in a span of four balls proved costly in the end,he rued.
Dhoni also felt a slightly better show by the new ball bowlers could have tilted the close game in India8217;s favour. 8220;I think if we had bowled a little better with the new ball and not given so many runs upfront,may be things could have been different. The match went to the last ball and you don8217;t expect anything better,8221; said the Indian captain.
Dhoni,however,was happy with the way his spinners,especially Ravindra Jadeja,tried to defend a sub-150 score. 8220;I8217;m still happy with the way the spinners,especially Jadeja,bowled. There was a chat around in the camp to play one more seamer but Jadeja did a fantastic job. He scored a few runs and bowled well too,8221; Dhoni said.
New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori was happy with the bowlers who,for the second match on the trot,restricted India8217;s star-studded lineup to a modest total.
8220;I8217;m pleased with the bowling effort. Guys like Jesse Ryder stepped up really well. We had an opportunity to attack their fifth bowler but it didn8217;t work,8221; Vettori said.
Lavishing praise on Brendon McCullum,who picked his second successive Man-of-the-Match award for his unbeaten match-winning 69,Vettori said,8221;It was great batting by him. The two fours he hit in the last over brought us back in the match and he then finished it off.8221;
McCullum,on his part,said his 53-run stand with Ryder made the job easy. 8220;I8217;m really happy and I think I played better than the last match. We had a really quick start and it was a matter of keeping pace with things,8221; he said.
