Dhoni happy at ending losing streak

Captain leads India to comprehensive win over England in first ODI.

HYDERABAD:

India captain MS Dhoni was relieved at breaking his team's prolonged losing streak against England after the hosts beat the visitors by 126 runs in Hyderabad in the first of the five One-Day Internationals (ODIs).

Dhoni led from the front, smashing 87 off just 70 deliveries, and later emphasised the importance of winning regularly.

"It's important to win games," said Dhoni. "If you are not winning games, you do not enjoy playing cricket and our losing streak in England was long. Our bowlers showed that they can win us games if the conditions are in their favour."

Dhoni's match-winning knock helped India reach 300 for seven and the captain was happy at the way he played.

"I normally don't believe in rating my performance but this innings is precious for me," he said. "This innings of mine was a well calculated one. It wasn't easy to rotate strike in the middle overs and it was important to just get through that phase."

England were shot out for 174, with captain Alastair Cook top-scoring with 60, but the visitors lost their last eight wickets for 63 runs after being comfortably placed at 111 for two. Cook felt that losing the toss was crucial as batting became difficult in the second session leading to the collapse.

"It was important to win the toss because at the end the ball kept low," said Cook. "India out-performed us today. We're going to have to learn from this. We know playing spin is an issue, and that's a skill thing."

Left-arm spinner Ravinda Jadeja and off-break bowler Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed three wickets each to complete a comprehensive win for the hosts. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2011.