India’s struggle to find the right balance in the batting order is worrying captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
- De Kock, Morkel shine as South Africa steal victory in Rajkot ODI
India lost the 3rd One-dayer against South Africa by 18 runs in Rajkot on Sunday and Dhoni expressed his helplessness about still being unable to find out which of his batsmen can fit in the middle order and finish games in close run-chases.
"We are looking for batsmen to play at Nos 5, 6 and 7. Till they play there, we won't know who is a good bet over there. And we are looking to give chances as well. So it's a tricky one," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Elaborating as to what he meant by tricky, the skipper said that some of the players are not getting runs when their batting orders are reshuffled.
"Jinx (Ajinkya Rahane) batted well at No 3 but Virat couldn't score, this is something we will have to look at," Dhoni said.
Dhoni was cited the wicket and the dew factor for the loss.
"I thought 270 was a par score, the wicket kept getting lower and slower and the dew didn't help us out. It became a bit two-paced and become difficult to play the big shot. I thought our bowlers did well. Maybe a bit more dew would have made it difficult. They (SA) batted when the wicket was at its best and they also couldn't find runs at the death," the skipper reasoned.
Man-of-the-match Morne Morkel said that he experimenting with variations worked to his advantage.
"Really worked hard this week on mixing it up a bit. I'm a rhythm bowler and need things to click to operate. We had a couple of game-plans and it is important to execute and we did that," said Morkel.
About Virat Kohli's dismissal, Morkel said: "I suppose you live by the sword, you die with the sword. He (kohli) is a big hitter down the ground and had to vary it. Every time I do well, especially against India is very special. And it will last with me forever."
South Africa's skipper AB de Villiers was happy that Quinton de Kock got back to form and proved his critics wrong with a century.
"It was a very special batting performance. Quinton answered a lot of questions just like what Quinton can do. We struggled between the 37th and 44th over but found our way at the end. To have Miller up front was 'Out of the Box' thinking from us. We were looking at 250 as a par. The way we fought back with the ball was special."