India to take 'positives' from Sydney loss

Sydney, Feb 24 (UNI) An Optimistic India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his side could have achieved Australia's daunting total had the top order given a good start in the CB series' match played here today.

However, Dhoni admitted that India was always in the race and added that the target of 317 was chaseable.

''I thought 317 was chaseable on this wicket. But, we started very badly in the run chase.

''Gambhir batted fantastically and he kept us in the hunt, but a big partnership at the lower order could have altered the result,'' he said after the match.

India were reduced to 51 for four before Dhoni (36) joined Gautam Gambhir (113) to stitch the innings with a 98-run partnership.

A late order flourish by Robin Uthappa (51), Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh did keep the visitors in the hunt and by the time India was closing in on the Australian target, they had already lost too many wickets.

The Indian captain further added that his side can take a lot of positives from today's match and praised his side's 'never say die attitude'.

''I think we can take lots of positives from the game even though we lost it. We never gave up for the run chase even after we had lost a couple of wickets early on,'' Dhoni said.

Uthappa's heroics down the order came in for praise from his captain and Dhoni hoped that to see him perform more consistently.

''He is an unorthodox player. He is aggressive, can cut and pull. I hope he plays like that in the remaining matches.'' UNI XC RAR RKM RK2033