Cricket

Crowd to blame for dropped catches: Dhoni

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed crowd, clad in different hues, for distractions, which resulted in a forgettable and sloppy show by his fielders during the third one-dayer against Sri Lanka here on Sunday.

India had a poor day in the field as they let got as many as four chances during the Lankan chase, which made the defence of a modest 237-run total difficult.

“Since Sri Lanka had a colourful crowd it becomes difficult to spot the ball in the night specially after it becomes a bit dirty,” Dhoni said after India won by 33 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

“Indian team was worried when Jayawrdene and Thushara were scoring runs,” he said. “But having a fifth bowler is a luxury. We have to make do with four bowlers but we have bowlers like Yuvraj, Raina and Virat, who can bowl. We needed one extra batsman”.

Tags: 3rd odi, Idea Cup 2008, India, MS Dhoni, sri lanka