LONDON: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has apologised to the team’s disappointed fans after they went out of the ICC World Twenty20 at Lord’s on Sunday and promised to make amends in the West Indies next year.
The defending champions, who had also lost to the West Indies on Friday, were eliminated after they lost by three runs to England in their Super Eight Group E clash on Sunday.
“We are sorry for what happened but we can say we gave our best,” Dhoni told reporters. “I think we have the guys who can handle the pressure, it was a day when nothing really worked for us.”
Dhoni said India would bounce back at the next ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean next year. “We can definitely prove a point over there. We were never really up to the mark but in nine months time there will be another tournament and that is the only good thing we can say now,” he said.
“Cricket never tests your character when you are doing really well. It tests you when you are not doing well. I think this is a testing time for us but it's not the end of the road. We lost in the ICC World Cup 2007, that was the worst part of my career. This loss is disappointing but still I don't think it comes near to the loss we had in the World Cup in the West Indies.”
Dhoni said suggestions that IPL had adversely affected his team were unfounded. “It is a demanding format because you play at different venues, it's not like you play three or four games at the same point,” he said. “But I personally believe it's not an excuse. We failed in batting. If the opposition scores 153 and you cannot achieve that on a track like this, I don't think there can be any excuse. You just cannot explain that.”
The Indian captain was candid when he said the team lost because they did not bat well. “I'm happy with the performance of the bowlers. The England bowlers started really well. They looked aggressive and used the bouncers really well. All of a sudden our batsmen could not change their game plan.”
Asked if Yuvraj Singh should have batted up the order, Dhoni said “He could have. But we thought (Ravindra) Jadeja would go in and stabilise the innings. Once Yuvi or I are out there, we can achieve a run rate like nine or 10 an over, since we also have Yusuf Pathan and Harbhajan Singh down the order. We lost wickets at crucial times. First Jadeja got out and then unfortunately Yuvraj too got out. The timing of those dismissals was crucial,” he added.
Dhoni conceded it was difficult to replace Virender Sehwag in the squad. “Sehwag is a kind of player you cannot really replace and we did miss him. But Rohit Sharma was doing the job for us and he scored in quite a few games. Of course with Sehwag there, the batting order looks different. We missed him because of injury and you cannot do much about that,” he said.
England captain Paul Collingwood was elated with the win and he disclosed that jeers from some Indian fans worked as extra motivation for his side. “We had a lot of English supporters but we got booed at the home of cricket by the Indian fans, which was a bit strange. So that gave us a bit of motivation,” he said.
The England captain felt they should have put a bigger score on the board but was happy with the way his bowlers defended the total. “At one stage, I thought we would get 160-170 but it was a fantastic performance. We really put India under a lot of pressure. We were hoping the wicket would have pace and it did. We got the balls in good areas,” he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment