Dhoni defends batting order


India captain MS Dhoni accepted the blame for India's exit out of the ICC World Twenty20, but termed it as an overall team failure. "We stand up and say we didn't perform well as a team," a dejected Dhoni said after the defending champions crashed out with a three-run defeat against England.

This was India's second straight loss at Lord's in the Super Eights, the previous one coming against the West Indies. Dhoni sent England in to bat and the hosts failed to build on the platform set up by Kevin Pietersen leaving 153 as nothing more than a par score.

Dhoni had high hopes of a successful chase, but nothing went according to the plan as Indian batting failed to cope up with the mounting pressure and the asking rate. "We stopped them at a decent score. But we don't have a practical excuse. Our performance not really up to the mark," he said.

However the controversial issue at the press conference, which lasted a whopping 26 minutes, was devoted to the elevation of the Ravindra Jadeja, who was playing his first game of the tournament, and turned heads when he walked in as the No. 4 and finished with a painful 25-ball 35. Dhoni explained Yuvraj Singh, who had scored a brilliant 67 against the West Indies, was the natural choice but he didn't want him to keep walking out in a pressure situation yet that's exactly the situation he faced.

"What we expected was Jadeja to play a few overs and stabilise the innings and then we can go after their bowling," Dhoni said. "We never really wanted the run-rate to increase to around nine and nine-and-a-half. He [Jadeja] was still playing his shots but the short balls were really bowled well at him. The run rate climbed from there and the momentum shifted to their side."

By the time Yusuf Pathan walked in to join Dhoni India needed 67 off the last six overs. It was never going to be an easy task especially when the ball was reversing. "By the time me and Yusuf came together it was too late as the ball was reversing and it was difficult for even Yusuf to hit."

Jadeja initial inclusion for this match was a surprise as it cane at the expensive of the impressive Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, who had played an important role in the tournament. Dhoni defended the move, saying the aim was to strength the batting without having to lose a fast-bowling option with RP Singh also replacing Irfan Pathan.

"We were looking at the combination and at the same time we were looking to chase. In the 2007 World Twenty20 we batted deep down, so we wanted depth in batting," Dhoni said. "He [Jadeja] is an excellent fielder, he can bat well and bowling wise he did the job. It also allowed us to pick another fast bowler so it actually increased the overall strength of the side." The result suggested otherwise.

Not for the first time, Dhoni added that fielding was another key area where there was much more room for improvement an area that has been a problem throughout the tournament. "Fielding is an area we need to work on. This was the best side with our best fielders. We can't complain but we can definitely improve."

The final game with South Africa is now a dead rubber, but Dhoni tried to play down the importance of India going out early and already had one eye on next year's World Twenty20 in West Indies. "This loss is disappointing but the loss in 2007 ODI World Cup was the worst loss of my career," he said.

"Cricket never tests your character when you are doing well, it always test you when you are not doing well both as an individual and as a team. It is testing time for us. It is not end of road for us - we are going to the West Indies shortly and we can repair the damage."