We’ll comeback hard at Sydney: Dhoni

Zeenews Sports Bureau

Melbourne: Despite losing the first Test, Indian captain MS Dhoni was optimistic that India would definitely comeback hard in the second Test at Sydney. Dhoni said after the MCG Test which India lost by 122 runs: “It’s a long series which gives you the chance to comeback.” However, he said that if India were to fightback in the series, the batsmen needed to score more. “We need to score more runs. Otherwise, it would be very difficult for us to win.” “We need to apply ourselves a lot more. And if we do that I have no doubt that we would comeback strongly,” he said. Asked if he is worried about his batsmen, Dhoni said, "Not really. They are very experienced batsmen. You have to give credit to Australia bowlers for the way they bowled. They kept a nagging line outside the off-stump and that's why they got us." Dhoni was worried about the fact that they were not able to wrap up the lower-order quickly. For that, he said, they need to sit down and chalk out strategy. "Bowlers brought us back in to the game. We were short by 50-odd runs in the first innings. Their lower-order scored some runs, if we had got them earlier, we would have had 50-60 runs less to chase," he said. “We need to find way to get lower-order out cheaply,” said Dhoni, who himself came under a lot of criticism for letting Australian lower-order score easy runs in both the innings. He also gave a lot of credits to the Australian pacers who bowled superbly in the Boxing Day Test. Victorious Australia captain Michael Clarke acknowledged the contribution made by his pace trio, experienced duo of Mike Hussey and Ricky Ponting and the lower-order batsmen. "Our tail were outstanding with their batting, and we have to give full credit to the bowlers. You always want to have plans against whatever team you play and we were able to execute the plans. "Credit has to go to Ponting and Hussey as well. India are a fantastic team. It is great to have them here in Australia. We know they'll come hard at us in Sydney," Clarke said. Australia paceman James Pattinson was adjudged man-of-the-match for taking six wickets in the match, including four in the second Indian innings. "It's a pretty surreal feeling right now. We were coming off a bit of pressure after losing in Hobart to New Zealand. It is fantastic to win here at the MCG. Victorian supporters are the best in the business. (Peter) Siddle is fantastic, he keeps everyone in the side going," Pattinson said. Meanwhile, former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who is here as a commentator, said that he was concerned by India's five consecutive defeats abroad. "I am a little concerned that India has now lost 5 consecutive Tests abroad. They lost 4 in England and now they have lost here. It is something that needs to be looked into and I am sure the team management will analyze what went wrong here," he said after the match. "India has an experienced batting line-up and they can comeback into the series. But they really have to pull up their socks," Ganguly added.