Mahendra Singh Dhoni praised the centurions Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, and George Bailey after an unusually high-scoring game at Perth, where Australia chased India’s 309. The Indian skipper, among other things, spoke about Rohit’s hundred, DRS and the Perth wicket.
Listen to Dhoni's >post-match conference
On Bailey-Smith batting: I think they batted really well. They rotated the strike well when our spinners were bowling. The spinners also went for quite a few boundaries so I feel that was a phase where they could have bowled slightly differently.
On Rohit’s innings: Whenever a batsman plays a big innings, you should see how he plays after getting past the milestones i.e after a 50, after a 100. If you look at someone like Rohit (Sharma), he usually goes on to make a really big score once he completes his century. He is someone who can play all types of shots effortlessly and can exploit the field. It was a very good innings and I hope he continues in this vein throughout the series.
On DRS: The George Bailey decision could have changed the outcome of the game if there was DRS but at the same time we need to push the umpires to make the right decision. A lot of 50-50 decisions don’t go in our favour but that happens and we have to take it in our stride. But I am still not convinced about DRS.
From behind, when you are moving on to the leg side, it is always difficult. I felt it sounded like a glove, but I won’t say I was 100% sure about it. When you appeal, sometimes it goes in your favour and sometimes it doesn’t.
On Brainder’s bowling: I think Brainder (Sran) bowled really well. He was hitting the right areas. Left arm fast bowlers have the advantage of that angle which goes away from the right handed batsman. I won’t judge on one game and in the coming games we will have to see if the batsmen put pressure on him and how does in those circumstances.
On Ishant’s exclusion: Ishant had to be dropped because of a finger injury. He was available for selection but we could not risk him worsening that injury and possibly missing out on the remaining games.
On Gurkeerat: The only option we have who can share the bowler’s load if they have an off day is Gurkeerat (Singh Mann). I know he bowls in the domestic circuit but I have not seen much of him. Yesterday I thought that if the fast bowlers have a bad day, I can rely on the spinners. I never thought that the spinners would have a bad day.
On a high-scoring match at Perth: On an odd day, the wickets will be up and down like this depending on the venue but other than that you will see good wickets and a lot of runs being scored more often that not. This was unusually high-scoring for a wicket like Perth and I felt it was slightly slower than usual.
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