Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) A beaming India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said it feels good to be on the winning side with a bunch of youngsters who showed the way in taking a 2-0 lead in the five match ODI series against England at the Ferozeshah Kotla here Monday.

The hosts sealed an eight wicket victory over England following their 126-run win at Hyderabad Friday.

Dhoni said his young team showed a lot of character after their diasastrous tour of England, where they lost both ODI and Test series.

“It is good to win and see the youngsters stepping up both with bat and ball. I’m glad we’re the winning side, it’s really good,” Dhoni said. “Well of course the series in England wasn’t a good one for us, but the team showed their character not to lose their temper and still be sociable on the field.

“Today we needed a good start, Vinay and Praveen gave us that with early wickets. We never let them get a partnership together.”

Dhoni was alll praise for Man of the Match Virat Kohli who made an unbeaten 112 and along with Gautam Gambhir (84 not out) stitched 209-run partnership for the third wicket.

“Kohli is batting very well. It is important to give youngsters the opportunity to bat and improve their cricket. That is why it is important for them to bat up the order. Kohli is converting his starts into big scores. He is going through a phase and is improving at the same time,” Dhoni said.

“Let us not forget Gautam’s contribution. He came to bat at No.3 when the English bowlers were able to extract some swing. We needed a partnership at that time. We did not have a lot of runs to chase. It was a bit of under par score. The partnership between Gautam and Kohli was really good. This was a good ODI wicket. For us it’s all about winning one game at a time, improving as cricketers, especially with youngsters in the side.”

Kohli also impressed with the ball with figures of 5-0-18-0 but Dhoni said he has no intention of turning him into a serious medium pacer.

“I dont want him to turn into a serious medium pacer. He has a complicated action and I don’t want him to miss matches because of injury. Obviously, he needs to keep bowling in case when we need someone to bowl 3-5 overs,” he said.

Asked why they could not perform as well in England, Dhoni said: “There is not one reason why we are doing well now. In England, there was a case of the wet ball, with the spinners not getting enough turn and Duckworth-Lewis coming into play, it was not easy to score.

England have not beaten India in an ODI series in India since 1984-85. Dhoni felt it was just a matter of luck.

“It is a difficult question for me to anwer. It is also a bit of their bad luck that whenever they come to India our 6-7 batsmen have been in good form alongwith the bowlers. Also coming from England, the conditons are different and it is difficult to adjust strokes” he said.