'We lost wickets in a heap' - Shikhar Dhawan opens up on India's middle order collapse in the first ODI vs South Africa

India went down to the South African side in the opening ODI of the three-match ODI series between the two sides in Paarl. The Proteas beat the ‘Men in Blue’ by a margin of 31 runs.

And now, India’s opening batter Shikhar Dhawan has stated that the wicket was on the slower side, and there was also some turn on offer as well. The left-handed batter also added that it was not easy for the Indian middle order to chase down a target of close to 300.

“We had a good start and I feel the wicket was slow, it was offering a bit of turn as well. So, when you are chasing around 300 runs when the middle-order comes to bat, it is not easy to play shots,” said Dhawan in the post-match press conference.

India did not have a big partnership: Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan also added that India lost wickets in a heap and the side did not have any century partnership in the 1st ODI as well. Dhawan also heaped praises on South African batters Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen for taking the Protean innings deep.

“Our wickets fell in a heap and that had an impact on us as a batting unit. Of course, from our team we did not have a century and we did not have a big partnership. I feel both the South African batters batted quite well and they took the innings quite deep,” added Dhawan.

Dhawan also added that he wanted to play the ball on merit and concluded by stating that he always wanted to build a big partnership when the wickets started to tumble.

“Yes, the plan was to play on merit in the beginning and it was a sort of wicket that we get back home. I was carrying forward my flow, but when the wickets fell, it was in my mind to stitch a big partnership. It wasn’t easy for the new batsmen to make runs, the plan of the set batsmen was to take it deep,” concluded Dhawan.