‘Declaration delayed to allow Yuvi, Gautam score century’

Mahendra Singh Dhoni revealed it was a team decision to declare after giving Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh opportunity to score their centuries, which unfortunately they could not manage.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni revealed it was a team decision to declare after giving Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh opportunity to score their centuries, which unfortunately they could not manage.

“When we came yesterday we were not sure of the fog, there was no definite prediction about it. But if we would have lost some wickets we would have really been on the back foot today,” Dhoni said.

“We started well today but it was a team decision to give them (Gambhir and Yuvraj) a chance to score century and then go for declaration,” Dhoni said after the second and final Test against England ended in a draw.

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India declared at 251 for 7 in the post-lunch session only after Gambhir was out on 97 and Yuvraj on 89 on the fifth and final day, which already had a delayed start due to fog.

Dhoni credited bowlers for their outstanding performances in the 1-0 series victory.

“Credit goes to bowlers, especially the fast bowlers. They took wickets whenever it was needed,” Dhoni said after the second and final match ended in a draw.

Dhoni also acknowledged the contribution of batsmen, saying they stitched partnerships at crucial junctures in the two matches.

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“Even batsmen did their job. There were good partnerships. Whenever we lost a few wickets there was somebody to see that we were through,” he said.

While Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar did the job in the first match in Chennai, Gambhir and Yuvraj saw the team through in Mohali.

“We concentrated on preparation and execution of our plan. After that whatever be the result does not matter to us. We just looked to get the basics right,” he said.