Not enough runs scored in the first ten overs, believes Dhoni

Dhoni pushed himself up the order to bat at No. 4 in the third ODI

Indian captain MS Dhoni believed that one of the main reasons that India could not chase down South Africa's 270 in the third ODI was because the Indian openers did not score enough runs in the first ten overs. He felt that this added to the pressure that Virat Kohli and he faced while chasing the target in the later overs.

According to a report on ESPNCricinfo, Dhoni was speaking to the media in the post-match press conference. India fell short of the target by 18 runs after having looked comfortable at one point to win the match.

India scored 40 runs in the first ten overs, although they did not lose any wicket. This, according to Dhoni, was a crucial phase as it put pressure on the middle order later on. However, India's woes during the 30-40 over period continued at Rajkot too as only 37 runs were scored by Dhoni and Kohli during the overs 31-40. This increased the asking rate to above 9 runs an over.

“I don't think we got enough runs in the first ten, especially the fact that the wicket kept getting slower. And 30th to 40th was again a crucial period. We wanted to bat quite late but at the same time we started playing the big shots close to the 37th over but we were not really able to connect,” Dhoni said.

“Both me and Virat were set and we wanted to play the big shot but we never really middled anything. Also not to forget the outfield here is big which meant that when you are playing the big shots more often than not you have to clear the fielder. It was a tough one when there's less pace on offer you can't use the pace of the bowlers,” he continued.

India reshuffled their batting lineup after keeping the same one in the first two ODIs. Kohli was sent in at No. 3 and Dhoni followed him at No. 4. Rahane, who had scored fifties in each of the first two ODIs at No. 3, was sent in at No. 6.

Sending in Kohli at No. 3 did reap a few benefits as he scored his first fifty since the 2015 World Cup. However, in the 37 innings that Kohli has batted at No. 4 (58.13) he has a much better average than he does at No. 3 (50.51).

Justifying the continuous shuffling of the batting order, Dhoni believed that his batsmen have to be able to adapt to all kinds of pressure situations. He still felt that India have not found the right and stable batsmen at positions five, six and seven.

“As I said, I've explained it, we want Virat to bat at three but at some point we'd love to have a look at him at four. We are still looking for somebody at No. 7 who can play the big shots and if that doesn't happen, the extra pressure has to be absorbed by the top six batters,” the Indian captain explained.

“So there are a lot of things that you have to manage and accordingly decide which person suits the position the best,” Dhoni said.