Dhawan says middle-order collapse led to crushing loss

Opener Shikhar Dhawan on Tuesday said the loss of four quick wickets in the middle overs was the main reason behind India's crushing 10-wicket loss to Australia in the first ODI here.

"We handled those first 10-15 overs very nicely. As I said that where we lost four wickets in a go, that is where the game changed for us, then we were behind the game and then we were trying to cover it, so that is where we went wrong," said Dhawan, who made a dogged 74 off 91 balls at the Wankhede Stadium.

Dhawan hit a half-century before Australia pulled things back to bowl India out for 255 and then unbeaten centuries by openers David Warner (128 not out) and Aaron Finch (110) helped them overhaul the target in just 37.4 overs.

India lost five quick wickets after Dhawan and KL Rahul (47) had rallied the innings with their 121-run stand for the second wicket.

Asked whether the Indian batting was too dependent on him, Kohli and Rohit, Dhawan said, "See it is just one bad day in office. We played really well against West Indies, there all the batsmen did well.

"Shreyas (Iyer) has been doing so well and he is a young lad, one-odd innings is going to go here and there, but we as a team back each other and we don't focus or put too much on one loss"