MANCHESTER, Sept 1 (PTI): Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed his side�s six-wicket loss to England in their one-off Twenty20 International here on the batsmen�s failure to build partnerships.
�Partnership is key, doesn�t matter what format it is. Once you lose quick wickets, like we did after 12 overs, it doesn�t help. You want to have at least five or six wickets in the slog overs,� remarked Dhoni after his side lost nine wickets in the final eight overs as England pulled off a rather easy win yesterday.
India were 104 for one in the 13th over before being bowled out for 165, with three balls remaining. Dhoni said one of the reasons for his side losing quick wickets was because they wanted to press on for 15-20 runs extra to make up for the lack of a fifth bowler.
�Since we don�t have the fifth bowler, we wanted to push a bit hard. We wanted to get those extra 15-20 runs and in the process we lost quick wickets.
�Once you lose quick wickets it becomes difficult. Virat (Kohli) hasn�t bowled much in Twenty20 format and there were two part-time off-spinners,� he said.
Even though India struggled to get through the quota of fifth bowler between Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the four overs cost the visitors 48 runs and Dhoni doesn�t see the possibility of the team going with six batters and five bowlers in the forthcoming one-day series.
