India whitewashed over Australia in the T20 series. Australia has proved that they are very strong in the 50 over format, however they were not able to handle India in the shorter format.
The last match of the Australia tour proved to be a fitting finale as India won the game off the last ball. Suresh Raina and Yuvraj held their nerves to get India over the line after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli laid the foundations.
Speaking to the press after the game Dhoni admitted that his team were confident of chasing the down the target: “During the break we felt that the dew had set in which meant the target could be chased down” and praised the openers and Kohli for laying the foundations of this victory: “Openers provided a good start and Kohli capitalised on that.”
He also praised the top order for their consistent performances: “Top order has consistently performed well in the series which is difficult” and also said that the batsmen “Batsmen started giving in extra 5 to 10 percent” after losses in the first 4 games even after scoring close to 300.
“I think we have the right mix. Also, Yuvraj can just go and express himself batting at No 5. There will be less pressure on him and as he plays more and more games he will just open up more. I have never believed in a set batting order and according to situations and bowlers, we might need to create a gap in between the two left-handed batsmen (Yuvraj and Suresh Raina). At the moment, this seems like what will be a very good batting line-up,” the skipper exuded confidence in the batting line-up.
Yuvraj Singh was also a star performer with both bat and ball today and when asked about him Dhoni said “Yuvraj will open up as he gets more and more games”.
In spite of the humiliation in the ODI series, Dhoni felt it was a “positive series” for India and, in the end, Dhoni thanked the Indian fans for their tremendous support during the series.