If you guess the bowler well, you'll end up winning: MS Dhoni

Fort Lauderdale, Aug 28: West Indies defeated India by 1 run to win the first T20 international of the series yesterday (August 27). [KL Rahul slams maiden T20I]

Batting first, West Indies scored a mammoth 245 runs thanks to a ton from Evin Lewis. While chasing, Karnataka batsman KL Rahul scored an unbeaten 108 and almost guided India to an epic run chase.

Unfortunately for India, captain MS Dhoni failed to hit the winning runs as Dwayne Bravo took his wicket in the final ball of the innings.

Addressing the media after the match, MS Dhoni said: "You have to really guess what he (the bowler) is looking to bowl and according to that you play your shots. So if you guess the bowler well and execute well, you'll end up winning. Rather than thinking who is bowling, what's important is to think what his strength is and where he will look to pitch the next delivery," Dhoni said.

Dhoni gave credit to his one-time Chennai Super Kings team-mate Dwayne Bravo's skills in a pressure situation.

"When it comes to Bravo, I feel in the current scenario, he is amongst the best when it comes to death bowling and the amount of experience he has, that really counts. You always know if he is bowling it is tough but then (what) becomes important is how you are executing," said the Indian captain.

Despite the loss in India's first international match in the USA, Dhoni said his side can take a lot of positives.

"I feel overall there is plenty of positives from this game because the way we chased down 245 runs, apart from the last ball, I felt we were doing it perfectly. Overall, I felt the way the boys performed was very good."

Dhoni was all praise for Lokesh Rahul who struck his maiden T20I century in just his fourth match. Rahul ended at 110 not out off 51 balls. His 46-ball hundred was the joint second fastest T20I ton, levelled with South African Faf du Plessis and one ball more than Richard Levi of South Africa.

"Rahul has been very consistent. Wherever he has batted for India, including in Zimbabwe, he has done really well. The good thing is that he is among those openers who can play well against spinners.

"He (Rahul) is a compact player and at the same time can play unorthodox shots and he plays all over the ground, can hit over covers, over mid on and mid off. A complete cricketer and of course a long way to go for him. The way he was playing in last six months it was very encouraging to see him bat."

Asked about the likely impact of the kind of dramatic finish in the T20I match, Dhoni said, "It is amazing for the spectators but tough for the bowlers and batsmen. But I think for spectators they just love the fact that so many boundaries got hit and so many sixes happened in the game. 30-40 sixes I don't know, it could be comparable to baseball. I don't know how many home runs you get that.

"There were a lot many sixes and it is not only straight sixes, bowlers got hit everywhere. It's good for spectators, especially Indian fans. They love sixes, boundaries and wickets. If you have a mixture of all and still if you can get a game as close as this one, they feel very satisfied and they feel OK, for every dollar spent they got the best out of it."

PTI