Dhoni: Rahane Run-Out Derailed India's Chase

Kochi: After receiving a 124-run thrashing in the ODI series opener at Kochi against West Indies on Wednesday, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that the run-out of Ajinkya Rahane in the ninth over of the innings was a major blow from which the team could not recover.

In their chase of 322, the Indian openers - Shikhar Dhawan and Rahane - were off to a good start but a misunderstanding between the wickets lead to Rahane's departure after which India went on to lose the rest of their nine wickets for just 148 runs.

"We started off really well but after the run-out of Ajinkya we could not stop losing wickets. Chasing 320 and keep losing wickets in doubles - it becomes difficult for the batsmen. We lost too many wickets in quite a close succession. It is important to get partnerships going," asserted Dhoni.

After winning the toss, Dhoni had opted to bowl, taking into consideration the dew factor, but the decision backfired as West Indies got off to a strong start and finished well. Talking about the decision, Dhoni said he was forced to bowl first considering the fact that the spinners would have a tough time bowling second in the day/night fixture.

"I think we had to do something because we have seen the impact of dew here. There was no surety, but dew plays a factor more often than not so the team is forced to bowl first. It was very hot and the fast bowlers were having a tough time and they would love to bowl few more overs. It was quite hard also to keep them rotating. I could not really rotate them well," added the skipper.

Dhoni though gave credit to the way West Indies went about their innings owing largely to a record 165-run stand between Marlon Samuels (126*) and Denesh Ramdin (61). "They batted really well. If you see, we could not get too many wickets with the new ball," said Dhoni, also ruing the fact that they conceded a lot of runs in the middle overs. "They were hitting the big shots but still we were not able to put pressure on them by not letting them get those easy singles."

He further went on to add, "They have got a fantastic ODI squad. They can bat till nine and they have got five bowlers and couple of spinners. All of them are quite experienced in bowling in the death overs. They bowled consistently in the same areas."

But Dhoni looked pleased with the effort put in by the Indian bowlers in the slog overs where they conceded 81 runs and took three wickets.

"Most our bowlers apart from Bhuvaneswar gave runs. Considering that we restricted them to a total of 321 on this wicket, I must say our bowlers did a decent job. I was quite happy with the death bowling and they bowled quite consistently maintaining their lengths and we were able to put fielders in right areas. Overall, I am quite happy with the bowling," said Dhoni.