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Afridi made the difference: Dravid
"There was nobody to be blamed (from India). One fellow played a brilliant knock, credit has to be given to him," India's stand-in captain said.
India's stand-in captain Rahul Dravid on Friday said the team felt a target of 250 was defendable but Shahid Afridi's century made the difference between winners and losers in the fifth cricket One-Day International against Pakistan.
"There was nobody to be blamed (from the Indian side). One fellow played a brilliant knock, credit has to be given to him. I think Afridi made the difference between the two sides," Dravid said.
Afridi smashed the Indian bowling to pulp with the second fastest century ever, a 45-ball 102, as Pakistan comfortably overhauled the hosts' 249 for six with more than seven overs to spare.
It gave Pakistan an unassailable 3-2 lead in the six-match series. The final one-dayer is to be played at New Delhi on Sunday.
Dravid said the advantage of the toss and India's gameplan were all thrown to dustbin by the rampaging Afridi.
"We tried a few things. Brought on Anil (Kumble) early, Zaheer Khan was stand out with seven overs for 35 runs, especially considering what was happening at the other end. But I think it was his day. He connected some of the shots... another day it could have been different.
"It was not wrong to bat first, I am sure Pakistan too would have done the same. We knew there would be some help for the fast bowlers early on, but if we had seen off those first 15 overs."
"We saw it started to turn towards the end. If only we had not conceded 100 runs in the first 15 overs."
Dravid said he could not have brought on Sachin Tendulkar too early when he had quality bowlers to fall back on.
"We have to back the quality we have. Anil (Kumble) and Harbhajan have done well for us, and when they failed Tendulkar was brought on.
"Unfortunately the game had slipped by then. It was hard and our bowlers did their best."
