Dhoni reflects on India’s exit

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was unable to hide his disappointment after his side was knocked out of the World Twenty20 Championships at Lord’s on Sunday evening.

Ironically, it was the overwhelming support for India that inspired the English team to produce a tremendous performance that gave the home side victory by a narrow three run margin. England captain Paul Collingwood said he didn’t need to give his side a pep talk after they were booed by a large number of Indian fans on the practise ground shortly before the match.

England defended a modest 153 run total in a bowling effort that boasted plenty of impressive short balls. The cunning plan was no doubt copied from the West Indies who used the tactic with great success in their victory over India at the same ground on Friday.

“The short ball was bowled really well” admitted Dhoni.

“Short slower balls with deep midwicket and fine leg really worked” he added.

India lost two early wickets and Ravindra Jadeja and Gautam Gambhir were superbly contained by some very tight bowling during their 38 run, seven over partnership. The run rate required then spiralled out of control.

“We never really wanted the run rate to go above nine and a half runs per over. It really climbed on us – slowly the momentum really shifted to their side” said Dhoni.

“The timing of the wickets was crucial. Even when the rate is 10 runs an over, we can still do it. Me and Yuvraj with Yusuf and Harbhajan to come can do it. It is quite easy to get 60 runs in the last six overs in the T20 format when you have big hitters on the bench”

“They bowled well, the ball was reversing a bit. It was quite difficult even for Yusuf to hit it.”

Dhoni quashed suggestions that India’s failure in the tournament cam as a result of fatigue after back to back tours and the IPL in South Africa.

“If a cricketer says he didn’t perform well because he is tired, then it is an excuse. It is demanding but I don’t think it is because of being exhausted – I believe the more cricket you play, the better it is. We should stand up and say that we didn’t perform well as a team and that’s the reason why we didn’t perform well in the T20 World Cup.”

The margin of victory was small and India will again rue their poor fielding.

“If you compare this side to the one that won the T20 World Cup, Fielding is a major area in this format and we need to work on that” the captain mused.

“It shouldn’t be that the last three batsmen in your side can’t really bat. That really troubles you a lot when you are chasing.”

We will all be disappointed but we need to improve. A lot of the guys are youngsters who can hopefully play for eight to twelve years. This doesn’t come close to the disappointment of losing 50 over World Cup – that was the worst part of my career.

When asked if he had a message for the fans at the post match press conference, Dhoni said, “We are more disappointed than them but we respect their emotions. India is an emotional country and we are sorry. But we can say that we gave our best yet we lost. We will accept it with an open heart; we don’t have anything to hide.”

“Cricket tests your character when you are not doing well – as an individual and as a team. It’s not the end of the road for us. We can say that these were twelve odd days that never really went well for us. We can go to the West Indies and prove a point now.”