We weren't in the game: MS Dhoni

As has been the practice in recent times, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had to reason out another humiliating defeat. “I just can’t blame the players like ‘this one did that and that one did that’. At the end of the day, we are a team and we lose as a team. It’s not about pointing at a particular individual. As a unit you have to bear the loss and keep moving forward. Only one person can come (to address the media) and I’m representing them. As I said last time, I would like to be punching bag. At the end of the day, you really want to win the game and that’s really crucial,” Dhoni said after Pakistan inflicted an 85-run loss on India.

On India’s inability to chase down 250, he said, “I think it was a very good effort from the bowlers. They (Pakistan) got off to a good start. To restrict to 250 was a good effort on our bowlers’ part. Again, our batting was disappointing. What is important is to have wickets at the end. If you see, even if we didn’t score at a good pace till the end of the 20th over. We needed 180-odd runs in the remaining 30 overs.”

He said the early wickets cost India dear. “If you see, Virat (Kohli) has batted at three, and it’s not like he has not performed for the last 14 months. He got out to a delivery where you can’t say really much because the ‘keeper took a very good catch. Once two or three wickets fall, you need someone to soak up the pressure. Once we lost five wickets, we weren’t really in the game.”