India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted that losing top five batsmen quickly made a big impact on the result of the third ODI which England won by three wickets.
"Early wickets made a big impact. I believe we did a good job to reach the score after losing five wickets quickly but it wasn't a safe score though. We needed to bowl well in order to defend that score," the Indian captain said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
He was all praise for Ravindra Jadeja who scored 78 runs and took two wickets.
"He played really well. Actually, when I came in to bat, it didn't seam as much as it was doing initially. It was all about adjusting to the situation and we did that," the skipper said. On personal front, he was happy to make a significant contribution.
"If you look at the earlier two matches, both were T20s and batting at No. 6, one can only think about stepping up the momentum. Here, we got lot of overs to plan our innings." About his team's bowling, Dhoni said that when seven overs were curtailed, he felt that his bowlers had an advantage.
"If you look at our score, not many runs were deducted when seven overs were reduced. But at the same time, the wet outfield ensured that the ball was heavy and came on to the bat nicely. It was just easy to score."
Dhoni's opposite number Alastair Cook termed it as team effort but heaped praise on James Anderson for his quick breakthroughs and Craig Kieswetter for his aggressive batting that set up the victory.
