'They knew exactly what length to bowl' - Dhoni

MS Dhoni admitted that India's 79-run defeat to Bangladesh would "hurt" and attributed it to a "lack of partnerships". A chase of 308 was further hampered by the home side's bowlers extracting greater lift from a sluggish pitch and canny use of variation. In the end, India couldn't last the 50 overs and slumped to their worst loss to Bangladesh in terms of runs across all ODIs.

"I think the variations that they used were pretty impressive," Dhoni said. "They didn't bowl 140 kph and a slower one of 115 kph. They mixed up the pace well and also they had more bowlers who got more bounce compared to our fast bowlers.

"Bounce, at times on slow wicket, is a harder thing to negotiate because it climbs onto you and still you don't have enough pace to work around. I felt they used the variations well. And still they knew what was the exact length that was needed to bowl and I felt that was the difference between the fast bowling units."

Mustafizur Rahman, the 19-year-old debutant, took away the bulk of that praise. His offcutters gained just enough purchase to throw the batsmen's timing off repeatedly. Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed hustled Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan with back of a length deliveries. India's openers added 95 runs and kept the contest alive, but once it was broken they lost four wickets for 20 runs, and at 115 for 4, the game was slipping away.

"Whenever you are chasing 300, the key is partnerships," Dhoni said. "The bigger the partnerships, the easier it becomes for the middle order, the lower-order batsmen to score the remaining number of runs. I felt we kept losing wickets in the middle. We were not able to get big partnerships which I feel is crucial when you're looking to chase 300 or 305. Especially on wickets that turn out to be on the slower side because at times you have to take those calculated risk shots which I feel is important."

Bangladesh had no such trouble in their innings. Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal laced 102 runs in 82 balls to set the base while Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman contributed 83 in 86 to ensure their highest total against India. Helped along by India's quicks, who were guilty of pitching the ball too short too often. But according to Dhoni they "bowled to our strengths, but maybe that was not the right length on this wicket".

That Bangladesh used four fast bowlers was a topic of much interest. They were able to get zip with the new ball under lights and rewarded their captain Mashrafe Mortaza's faith. And Dhoni felt the trend might continue.

"If you see the past year, you will see the fast bowlers are the ones that are doing really well," he said. "They are supported by Shakib who is their leading left-arm spinner and they have also got part-timers who can bowl offspin if needed. Mahmudullah is injured right now. He is not part of the side, so it gives them that liberty of using the fast bowlers and quite a few of them can bat. So still they have a decent batting line-up. You have to see all these factors and I feel that was one of the main reasons you see them featuring more seamers in the coming games."

But did such a comprehensive loss to Bangladesh, who were ranked No. 8 prior to this match dent the morale of the much-fancied Indian side?

"It does hurt," Dhoni said. "But it's not about what you have done in the past. On that particular day, how well you have played predicts the team that wins and today they played much better cricket than we did."