Give youngsters more time and opportunity, says captain Dhoni

Following India's defeat to New Zealand in the fourth ODI in Ranchi, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni defended the inexperienced batting line-up terming it as a "learning curve" which will make them better players in the future.

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"It will be a good learning curve for them, almost similar to what happened in Delhi. Give them a bit more time they will do fine. It could have been slightly different if we had wickets in hand," Dhoni said after their 19-run defeat on Wednesday.

"Unless they get an opportunity like this it will be difficult. That's how you get experience. When you're in the middle facing such tough situations, when you go through the motions, you actually learn a lot," he added.

Pointing out that the wicket was slow, Dhoni said batting down the order was one of the toughest things to do.

"We just have to give them more time. Batting down the order is one of the toughest things to do, especially on wickets like these. There will be pressure to rotate, to get a partnership. It's not easy. They need time. You don't always get a player who is complete and bats at Nos 5, 6 or 7."

Dhoni said if the total was in excess of 300 they would have kept playing freely but the modest target made them think too much in the middle that led to the downfall and wicket added.

"There have been a couple of game where the wicket has been on the slower side where the opposition. If they scored 300-plus there's more often you keep playing your shots to chase it down.

"When the wickets are slow, and the required run-rate is not too high, that's when you calculate and play out a few overs thinking of a partnership. I feel that's where it lies as of now. We have quite a few batsmen who can do the job."

He further said the team was not being over-dependent on Kohli.

"It's not like that. If you see the last few months, we have not played much ODIs. In between we had Zimbabwe. It's very difficult. The statistics don't exactly reflect the exact scenario. Also I've batted at different position in that period. Our top-order was batting brilliantly. So everything is very different."