One of the worst defeats, says Dhoni

“It’s one of the worst games that any side can have, losing this way. You don’t get too many such games in a season and hopefully it’s the start and end of it,” said Dhoni in his post match press-do.

Chasing a daunting 308 for victory, India crumbled to 168 in 37.2 overs in the final league match of the tri-series here on Saturday and the skipper blamed it on all-round failure. “There is no particular reason to mention for our defeat. Everything -- whether it’s fielding, bowling or batting – went wrong for us. Though credit should go to the Sri Lankan batsmen for playing the way they did, if the bowlers don’t bowl to the field you have set for them, you (captain) look like a fool,” he stated.

Further commenting on the sloppy fielding, Dhoni agreed that his side wasn’t one of the better fielding sides. “I agree that our fielding isn’t up to the mark. There are a couple of players who are world class, but most of the others you can say are safe fielders. There was a time when we had Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and others and our fielding looked solid. We are trying our best, but there has been no drastic improvement,” he noted.

Dhoni pointed out that toss played a crucial role in the outcome of the result. “The 300-plus total in these venues is a bit too much to chase. I think if we had restricted them to say between 200 and 240, then we had a better chance,” he added.

India have had two poor starts at the top of the order, but Dhoni was willing to give Dinesh Kaarthick an extended run. “You can’t judge a player based on one or two innings. I think it’s unfair. Unfortunately this is the first time in a long time that both Viru (Sehwag) and (Gautam) Gambhir are not available. There is Sachin Tendulkar of course, but we have to make to do with whoever is available to partner him,” he explained.
DH News Service