Disappointed with batsmen, shot selection: Dhoni

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed the poor shot selection and execution of his batsmen for the 134-run loss to South Africa in the second ODI here today.
After the 141-run defeat in the first ODI at Johannesburg, Dhoni expressed his pleasure about the bowlers' performance, but also his disappointment with the batting line-up, the middle order in particular.
"Compared to the last game, our bowling did a fantastic job especially in the middle orders. Spinners bowled well and so did the fast bowlers when they came back on, in the latter stages of the South African innings. I am happy with the bowlers' performance because 280 runs on this pitch was a decent score."

"The wicket was on the flatter side and there wasn't much for the fast bowlers in it, so I am disappointed with the batting. The kind of shots we played, well, few of them were on. But the shot execution was not great to some extent, as they went to the fielders," he added.
India were reduced to 34 for 4 at one stage, and bowled out for 146 in 35.1 overs, whilst chasing 281 runs. No batsman crossed the 40-run mark.
"In the last few series our middle order, to some extent, was a bit of a bother. In this series we lost the top three quite early and our middle order was exposed. So if you assess, then that's maybe why we haven't been able to perform to our potential, especially the batting department," he asserted, a possible for the series loss.

South Africa were put into bat by Dhoni and while his bowlers eventually finished on top, early on they were once again defied by Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla, with the opening duo putting up 194 runs for the first wicket and smacking a hundred each in doing so.
"They have done really well for South Africa. They did so in the last series as well (versus Pakistan). The way they were batting in the first 20 overs, I thought this may be another 300-plus run chase but we came back into the game.