Bridgetown, Barbados: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is adamant his side can cope with fast bowling at the World Twenty20 despite their dramatic collapse during a 49-run loss to Australia here on Friday.
Chasing a stiff target of 185 for victory, Dhoni's men slumped to 23 for four and were bowled out for 135 in their opening second round clash.
Australia left-arm quick Dirk Nannes, the tournament's leading wicket-taker, did the initial damage on his way to figures of three for 25 before fast bowler Shaun Tait followed up with three for 21 on a lively Kensington Oval pitch.
Defeat, India's first of the tournament, was a setback to their hopes of semi-final qualification ahead of their second Super Eights match, against the West Indies, here on Sunday.
The home side have several pace bowlers in their ranks but Dhoni attributed India's slump in an innings where only Rohit Sharma, with 79 not out, scored more than 13, to excessive aggression rather than an inability to cope on pitches with more pace and bounce than typical sub-continental surfaces.
"The adrenalin sometimes get the better of you," Dhoni said.
"You try to fight fire with fire and it doesn't always work and this was an example of that.
"If somebody bowls 150kph (93 mph) short stuff then you have to be really good at pulling which isn't our natural strength," Dhoni admitted.
"Most players from India are very good at cutting the ball, but only a few are good pullers against the new ball.
"Maybe we could have played through the first few overs because we saw as the ball got a bit older it didn't come on as quickly.
"You have to go for runs and it's easy after the game to say this is what should have been done," the wicketkeeper-batsman, out for two to Australia leg-spinner Steven Smith, added.
"When you are chasing 180-odd runs the first five or six overs are very important otherwise the rate goes above 10 an over.
"The aggressive approach has worked for us in the past but you just have to be a bit careful."
And as for suggestions India had an inherent weakness against fast bowling away from home, a dismissive Dhoni said: "It's the same stuff Indians have been facing for the last 10, 15, 20 years and some of the best (batsmen) in the world have come from India, so there's no reason why we can't do it.
"During the first T20 World Cup (which India won in 2007) we played in Durban on one of the fastest tracks you'll see and we beat England, South Africa and Australia."
India were behind the game on Thursday after a 104-run stand between Australia openers David Warner (72) and Shane Watson (52).
"It was a big score but it is a fast-scoring ground so I didn't think we were under too much pressure because of that," Dhoni said.
"We needed a good start and you have to keep on going but a few shots went straight to the fielder."
Gayle anticipates India 'rethink'
West Indies captain Chris Gayle admits the hosts will have to go "back to the drawing-board" ahead of their World Twenty20 Super Eights clash with India here on Sunday.
Both teams started the second round on Friday with heavy defeats at the Kensington Oval, the hosts going down by 57 runs to Sri Lanka after India suffered a 49-run reverse at Australia's hands.
India lost six wickets to Aussie fast bowlers Dirk Nannes and Shaun Tait on a lively pitch and seemed to struggle with short-pitched deliveries - a point not lost on Gayle whose attack features several quicks.
"We can use the short ball but at the same we have to be careful because it (the Kensington Oval) is a small ground and they have quality batters who can make adjustments. But it's certainly something we will put into our plans."
West Indies played a major part in their own downfall against Sri Lanka by missing six chances, with Gayle himself dropping Kumar Sangakkara at slip before his opposite number had scored.
Sangakkara went on to make 68 and share in a 166-run stand with former skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who was given two reprieves before finishing with an unbeaten 98.
"We'll discuss what happened and it's back to the drawing board," Gayle said. "It's a must-win for both teams and it should be a good game.
"We are still confident we can win the two games and move onto the semi-final," the opening batsman insisted.
He added: "It's a disappointing start but we had our chances and we let it slip away. We can't take away the fact they batted really well but those missed chances hurt us."
