I wouldnt play cricket on this wicket: Dhoni

Had India not lost four wickets in the opening hour on the first day here in Ahmedabad,chances are this Test match would...

Had India not lost four wickets in the opening hour on the first day here in Ahmedabad,chances are this Test match would have fallen asleep long before lunch on the fifth day,and both captains admitted that there was little they could have done to get a result on the surface.

I wouldnt play any cricket on this wicket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni said with a smile,when asked if such pitches provided good advertisement for Test cricket.

Kumar Sangakkara,meanwhile,had started laughing even before the question was put to him. Well,if youre a batsman,youll probably love it, he said at the post-match press conference. I dont think anyone expected this wicket to be this flat.

Sangakkara added that his teams best chance of getting their first win in India was on the first morning,not when they declared with India 334 behind with one-and-a-half days play left. We had our best chance on the first morning and we just let it go with the line and length we bowled after lunch and tea. There was nothing there in the last two days.

Dhoni said that even though the team had lost four big wickets early,he knew they werent out of the match. Even at that time,we knew that whichever batsman got in and settled down would go on to score a hundred. We expected the pitch to have a little more bounce for the spinners but there was no help for anyone,either the fast bowlers or the spinners.

Neither captain was too critical of his spinners,who were touted to have a big say in the series but bowled the most thankless of spells on this track. The four top spinners in this game Harbhajan Singh,Muttiah Muralitharan,Amit Mishra and Rangana Herath went for a total of 789 runs and picked up only nine wickets between them.

Our spinners are still finding their way bowling in Tests in India, Sangakkara said. This is a good experience for them,bowling lengthy spells. Spinners were not the most effective on the track.

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It was on the slower side but there was no help for the spinners, Dhoni said. Even if there was a bit of turn there was no real pace and bounce from the rough for them. Even Muttiah Muralitharan didnt get the turn and wickets. Overall Im happy,but we could have bowled much tighter.

Sachins decision to play on

The two sides agreed to call off the match once Sachin Tendulkar reached his 43rd century,well into the mandatory overs. We were fine with going off before that,but Sachin wanted to continue and get his century. It was his decision to play on, Sangakkara said.

Asked if he felt he had delayed the declaration on the fourth day about 45 minutes into the second session Sangakkara said,On this pitch,I dont think it wouldve mattered.