Don’t criticise 5-bowler theory on basis of one failure: Dhoni

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Indian captain Mahendra Sigh Dhoni defended his five-bowler theory and the dropping of Virender Sehwag from the playing eleven in their World Twenty20 Super Eights match against Australia here, saying that he had adopted the 'horses for courses' policy for the game.

Dhoni's five-bowler strategy backfired against Australia as India suffered a nine-wicket defeat but he backed his decision, saying that one failure did not warrant criticism of the combination.

Dhoni instead blamed the untimely spell of rain before Australia's chase as the reason for his side's humiliating loss on Friday night.

He said his spinners failed to make an impact as they could not grip the ball because of the rain.

"One can't criticise five-bowler strategy just because we have done badly in one match. We had done well against England but today rain became a factor. Once there was rain, the Australians had an option and they used light roller. Once the ball gets wet, it is very difficult for spinners to grip the ball," Dhoni said at the post-match press conference.

The five-bowler theory led to Virender Sehwag being left out of the playing eleven, and asked why the axe had to fall on the swashbuckling opener, Dhoni said it was difficult for him to justify as it was a choice between two players.

"Actually, you have to choose horses for courses and we wanted someone who is good in this format. It's very difficult to justify why it was Sehwag (to be dropped)," he said.

He, however, conceded that a total of 140 was not a big one and batting was not upto the mark.

"At the end of 10 overs, we were 70 for two and suddenly we became 70-odd for five. Then it was question of playing 20 overs as well as putting a defendable target. We were ideally looking at a bigger score," he said.