VADODARA: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Thursday asked his team to 'forget' the humiliating nine-wicket loss against Australia in the fifth one-dayer and concentrate on the remaining matches of the seven-match cricket series.
"We need to forget this match. We have two more matches to play with our full capacity and for that we have to forget this game," Dhoni said after Indian team was thumped by the mighty Australians to take 3-1 lead in series.
Dhoni did not give any reasons for the shoddy batting display by the top order batsmen and said 200-220 would have been a good total for the home side.
"Not much went out way other than winning the toss this morning. Only Sachin Tendulkar played there while RP Singh and Zaheer Khan put up a good partnership. I think 200-220 would have been a good total for us," he said.
Dhoni also praised the opposition bowlers' performance as Mitchell Johnson picked 5-26 and Brett Lee returned figures of 2-42.
"They bowled superb under the prevailing conditions. They swung the ball well and bowled in right areas," he said.
Trailing 1-3, India will now travel for the sixth ODI in Nagpur on October 14.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting expressed satisfaction over his team's performance which had come after a defeat in the previous match at Chandigarh.
"It was a good execution of our plan. Our bowlers swung the ball well and did everything right after the last match."
It was a satisfying performance," Ponting said.
Ponting also said he would like Gilchirst, who top-scored with unbeaten 79 runs, to continue his form in the remaining matches of series.
"It is really nice to see him strike the form at right time. He needs to continue it for the rest of the series. We want to win every game," he said.
Man of the Match Mitchell Johnson said it was important to grab the opportunity when it arrives.
"It was a good day for me today. I was trying to hit the off stump and that paid dividends," he said.
"There are many good bowlers like Stuart Clark and others but I got the chance today. You have to take the opportunity when you get them," he added.
