Dambulla, Aug. 25: Mahendra Singh Dhoni paid rich tribute to Virender Sehwag for his scintillating 110 that paved the way for India’s entry into the final of the triseries here on Wednesday. “He (Sehwag) seems to be the only batsman in form at the moment. The rest of us have been struggling and the runs from him have been crucial both in the win against Sri Lanka and today,” said Dhoni.
The bowlers did their job well and Praveen Kumar stood out with a tight first spell that shut the Kiwis out the match. “All the bowlers chipped in. Praveen is a genuine swing bowler and that’s why he bowls six to eight overs with the new ball. He showed good control and operated in the right areas. Ashish Nehra also bowled well during power play, it was a good team effort,” added Dhoni.
On the controversy surrounding the batting power play, Dhoni noted that Kyle Mills had informed him about taking the option but the umpires were not informed and Asad Rauf intervened to explain the situation to both teams.
Losing skipper Ross Taylor pointed to the partnership between Sehwag and Dhoni as the difference between the two sides.
“The century stand took the game away from us. We had put in a lot of hard work for this tournament and it is disappointing to go out this way. Mills showed a lot of character in the end to give some respectability to our score.”
The conditions favoured the bowlers and it was the sustained effort for the Indian seamers that helped register a big win. “The ball was generally swinging around, they bowled full and straight.”