"If you are chasing such big totals, there can be only one strategy. We have to score runs, as the run rate will keep on increasing, and that did not happen today," Dhoni said.
"We lost one too many wickets upfront. It will not help if you are chasing a 300-plus total. We need to build partnerships at the top of the order. Otherwise, pressure on the lower-order batsmen will keep on increasing. That's what happened today," the wicketkeeper-batsman said.
The Jharkhand player had suffered a strain on his left ankle, but he said there was nothing to worry about. "My ankle is ok. There is not much swelling, and I hope it should be alright in a couple of days," he said.
Dhoni said Pakistan had utilised the middle overs well and that made a difference in the outcome. "The wicket was not helping the spinners much, and they also capitalised in the middle overs. They never let the part-timers to settle in."
No fifth bowler
India, on hindsight, might have lacked a quality fifth bowler as part-timers Virender Sehwag and man of the series Yuvraj Singh conceded far too many runs in the middle overs. "That is one of the things we need to decide.
“We had played with four bowlers earlier and won the matches and we had played with five bowlers and lost the matches. We were just thinking of giving chances to the guys who have been sitting out and gave them a feel of international cricket. Some times things work out, some times it does not."
He also said the shot selection of Indian batsmen could have been better under the given circumstances.
"Pakstan fast bowlers bowled really well, and on a normal day we would not have played the kind of shots that we played today. The pressure kept mounting after losing a couple of wickets. When the middle-order came into bat, the task was a bit too hard for them."
‘Differnt ball game’
But Dhoni refused to see much into India's one-day series victory and Pakistan's consolation win in the final one-dayer ahead of the Test series. "Test cricket is a completely different ball game. Depending upon the one-day performance you cannot say how much your team or opposition is going to perform in the Tests."
