Indian ODI captain MS Dhoni has joked that the performance by the bowlers in the fifth match, a series decider, against South Africa was so pathetic that he would not count it as "bad" even.
"Today they had good partnerships and the wicket was on a flatter side. I thought may be with spinners, with that extra fielder outside, we can exploit it, but the wicket was a bit too true to stop the opposition, who were scoring at a very brisk pace.
"So it was a difficult one especially today. I don't count it as a bad performance. It was so bad that I would not count it as bad."
'Ideally, Mohit should be your third seamer'
He also defended the move to have medium pacers Mohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who conceded 84 and 106 runs, in the playing eleven.
"We have tried going for fast bowlers who can bowl quick, but realised they are giving away more runs and we are better off playing with people who are more into their line and length. Ideally Mohit should be your third seamer, but you have to mix and match as to who is your death bowler, who can bowl middle overs and who is your new ball bowler.
"We have tried a lot of different fast bowlers, who have not done really well for us. But at the same time when they go back and play Duleep Trophy or Deodhar Trophy or IPL, they are the ones who have done well.
"I think there's a bit of difference between top first class cricket and international cricket. Overall we are off and on. We are lacking a bit of consistency when it comes to death bowling. There are days where we have done really well and there have been matches when we had given away lot of runs in the last ten."
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