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Vadodara: Smarting from the agonising four-run defeat in the series opener, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday blamed his bowlers for conceding 20-odd extra runs and said they have to bowl better at death.
In reply to Australia's mammoth 292 for eight, India reached 288 for eight, that too after Harbhajan Singh (49) and Praveen Kumar (40 not out) came up with a stunning 84-run stand for the eighth wicket off just 57 deliveries.
Dhoni said a target in the vicinity of 270 would have been achievable.
"I would have been happy with 270. That's more like the score often you would like to chase, specially on a track like this. It was not a track that remained the same. It got slower and slower as the match progressed," Dhoni said.
"We need to improve our death bowling to some extent and we need batsmen to contribute," added the India captain, making it clear that he was not happy with the bowlers' performance, especially towards the end.
"Thanks to Praveen and Bhajji that we came so close but that's definitely a learning experience and we have batsmen in the side to bounce back," added Dhoni.
Dwelling on India's chase, Dhoni reckoned losing four quick wickets in the middle did the team in.
Dhoni also blamed his top-order batting for failing to click as a unit.
"We had only one (Gambhir) making a 50. If we had one player making a big hundred, things would have been easier. Otherwise we needed one century partnership and at least one or two over 75. That did not happen," he rued.
