Indian skipper MS Dhoni believes that while the elements conspired against him, his bowlers were primarily to blame for Sunday's 65-run loss to Australia in the opening match of the ODI Commonwealth Bank Tri-Series at the MCG.
In trouble at 3-58 mid-way through their rain-shortened 32-over innings, the Aussies smashed 159 from the last 16 overs to post a competitive 5-216, thanks primarily to Matthew Wade's 67 on debut and an unbeaten 61 from 30 deliveries by David Hussey.
The Indians, who were bowled out for 151 in reply, made it too easy for the Aussie bats, according to Dhoni.
"There are certain deliveries that are so loose that they'll always go for a boundary or a six," he said.
"I think today we bowled quite a few of them ... the execution was not really great."
"That's one of the main reasons why they were able to score 200 runs, but I think Wade and the Hussey brothers, they batted well throughout."
With veteran paceman Zaheer Khan unavailable because of a minor knee injury, Dhoni conceded that India may have gone into the contest a seamer short.
He said an extra quick would have been handy after the three-hour rain delay which forced the reduction of overs to 32 per team.
"We were expecting rain, but not to the extent that it happened," said Dhoni.
"The forecast said two millimetres to four millimetres which means that we may lose the maximum of six overs a side, but once we lost 18 overs it did affect our game plan."
"As in cricket, the weather doesn't always go your way, but we need to execute better than what we did."
Dhoni said he expects Zaheer to be available for Wednesday's match against Sri Lanka at the WACA, and Virender Sehwag is a chance to return after making way for Rohit Sharma in Melbourne.
"We want to make Rohit play because an experienced player can come into the side and go out of the side and play with the kind of experience they have," said Dhoni.
"But for Rohit it may be tough in the sense that if he doesn't get a good go before the latter half of the series you might find him playing without much match practice."
"If someone can be rested and the overall strength remains the same then it's a good decision."