We take T20 Internationals as warm-up games: Dhoni

"Unfortunately we are not being able to get into the groove when we play Twenty20 Internationals before one-day series. We made the mistake of taking them (T20 matches) as warm-up games before one day matches," he said after India lost by 29 runs against Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 International here.

"We don't actually think of these Twenty 20 matches as international matches. I am not sure about this but the statistics shows that (we are not doing well)," he added.
Dhoni said the poor fielding which saw Indians drop catches was one of the reasons for today's defeat.
"We are not one of the best fielding sides in the world but we are also not known to drop too many catches. Of course, the dropped catches had hurt us in the match," he said.

Asked about the middle order collapse after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir had given a fine start, Dhoni said he and Yuvraj Singh were out in wrong times.

"In Twenty20 you had to take some risks especially when the target was high. Sehwag and Gambhir had given us a good start. But I and Yuvraj also were out at wrong time while taking some risks," he said.

"Otherwise 200 plus target is always difficult to chase in Twenty20 matches," Dhoni said.

Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said today's win would boost the morale of the players before the one-day series.
"Of course, we will start from the scratch in the one-day series but a win always makes you happy, we would want to carry on the momentum in the next Twenty20 match (at Mohali)," he said.
Describing the victory as team effort, Sangakkara, however, said his side could have finished the game sooner.
"When we batted the openers maintained a good run rate and from there we carried on. In the Indian innings, Sanath Jayasuriya's four overs was magic. Then Angelo Mathews bowled well. It was a team effort," said the visiting captain who top-scored with a 37-ball 78.
"We also fielded superb in the first 16 overs but we could have finished the game before the 20 overs and our bowlers would have to improve by bowling tight in the first six overs," he added.
Asked about his own form, Sangakkara said, "I am in good form in the Test series also. I batted well but did not apply well."