It took three crushing defeats for Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to admit the overwhelming superiority of hosts England.
 Dhoni found fault with Indian batting more than the bowling, though he admitted both the departments, as well as in the fielding, they haven't been good so far. © AFP |
"The series never really went our way. Most of the sessions were won
by them. More often than not, we were outplayed. We have been completely
outplayed in the series so far," said a stoic Dhoni after losing the
Test and the mantle of world's best Test side at Edgbaston on Saturday.
Dhoni found fault with Indian batting more than the bowling, though
he admitted both the departments, as well as in the fielding, they
haven't been good so far.
"Our batting hasn't clicked as it should have. We haven't been able
to put on par score on the board. I am happy with the bowlers; in the
first two games, it was tough on them with just three bowlers.
"You have to be at your best when you are playing against top
nations. The pressure all along kept mounting on us. If you are not able
to get the opposition out because you are a bowler short, the pressure
starts mounting. On top of it, England is a very good side."
The criticism against Indian batting has been their inability to come
to terms with the seam and swing bowling of England. Despite playing
three Tests, there is hardly any shred of evidence of improvement.
"To be yourself and slightly tune your batting needed for the
conditions is what's required. What we need to do is go out and enjoy?
Not to think too critically of the batting is important. Not to worry
too much about technique, how to change your game? It's important not to
get too critical."
Team India invariably used to fight back from tough positions in the
past but none of that famous ability has been witnessed in this series.
"It's part and parcel. You can't play at the top level and always
win. Being a team sport, all departments need to click. If they don't
and opposition plays good cricket, more often than not you would end up
losing the series. May be one series on 10 or 15, you would have one
individual brilliant show and end up drawing the series.
"There is no sense of shame whether you lose by four runs or 400
runs. Thinking right things is going to help you. With one Test to go,
it's important not to think of margin but to think what to do to improve
the kind of cricket we are playing."
With the loss, India has also given up their status as number one Test side but this presently is farthest in the mind of Dhoni.
"We never think too much about it. Till you do small things right,
ranking takes care of itself. Number one is not something that you own,
it's something you earn."
The general perception is that Indian cricketers play too many games which, in turn, hurt their performance.
"We play 200 days of cricket. The planning is beyond players'
control. It's the BCCI which decides. We only try to do our best and use
our resources to the maximum."
Rahul Dravid was deemed to have erred in not asking for a review of
his dismissal for apparently the sound everyone heard was because the
batsman's bat hit his shoelaces.
"It's very rare when a batsman hits the lace of his boot and it's the
exact time when the ball passes the bat. Rahul wasn't sure, whether he
nicked it or not, but he heard something? It's gone now and nothing can
be done."
Dhoni urged his teammates to forget the three losses of the series and prepare for the final one as if it was a one-off Test.
"We need to forget the last three games, we must take the final match
as a one-off Test series and not carry the burden of last three Tests."
The medical update on Praveen Kumar, who was hit on his bowling thumb while batting, is being awaited.
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