India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has held the lackluster bowling display responsible for his side's humiliating 54-run defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Pakistan in their Champions Trophy opener.
"I was feeling not one bowler short but three bowlers short. It was tough to set field for them," stated Dhoni here after Indian bowling department conceded 302 runs to Pakistan.
India's frontline bowlers, except for Ishant Sharma, went for huge runs. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was Dhoni's trump card in the slow Super sport wicket late last night, conceded 71 runs in his 10 overs while and RP Singh and Ashish Nehra finished up the day's proceedings in the high 50s.
The fourth-wicket Pakistani pair of Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf pulverised the Indian bowling during their record 206-run stand.
"Whatever field you gave them, it didn't work. You can give the field but can't really bowl for anyone. We bowled very short and gave away a lot of runs towards backward point region. Our bowlers had bowled on bouncy wickets (in the lead-up to the game) and suddenly had to bowl on a track where they needed to bowl up. They didn't adjust," Dhoni said.
Pakistan, at one stage, were tottering at 65 for 3, but the Indian captain said the duo of Malik and Yousuf could capitalise between the 13th and 42nd over mainly due to the listless perfomance of his bowlers.
