Dhoni demands flawless performance by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:	MS Dhoni, RS Dravid, KC Sangakkara
Event:	Compaq Cup 2009

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DateLine: 15th September 2009

 

The Indian skipper MS Dhoni is not ready to allow the tri-series triumph to gloss over weaknesses and he said the team would have to learn from their mistakes to remain at the top.

 

Defending a 319-run total, India's bowling and fielding left much to be desired with the seamers erring in their line and length and the fielders spilling catches and missing run out chances. Jayasuriya was dropped on 13, Dhoni missed an easy stumping chance off Sangakkara while he was on 28, Kandamby was grassed on 44 and several run out chances were laid waste.

 

"We made a number of mistakes in the field and did not field well as a team. It's thanks to some characters in the side that we won the match," Dhoni said after the tense encounter.

 

"As the number two team in the world, we don't want to make mistakes and repeat them. Hopefully, the boys are learning from it and realising that we have to be at our best".

 

Conceding that his seamers struggled when Tillakaratne Dilshan was going great guns, Dhoni said, "Dilshan is one such batsman who relishes short of length balls and can really hurt you. I hope the bowlers have learned and would not give him any width next time because that's an area where he can kill you."

 

Dhoni said it was great to improve India's poor finals record on and he dedicated the victory to former BCCI President Raj Singh Dungarpur who recently passed away.

 

"This is a special victory, coming after so long. It's always tough to go back to a press conference after losing a final, for the first question would be about how we have made a habit of losing finals. So it's good to be on the winning side.

 

"I would like to dedicate this win to Raj Singh Dungarpur. He was a great man and he once went to Pakistan with us as the team manager," he said.

 

On India's batting order reshuffle, Dhoni said Rahul Dravid agreed to open the innings with Sachin Tendulkar which allowed him to rejig the order.

 

"Rahul accepted the suggestion to open. He is an ideal number three batsman and we did not want to shuffle him down to number five or six. Rahul opening allowed us to send in some surprise batsmen and accommodate Virat Kohli at number seven," he said.

 

Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara felt the hosts had an even chance to win the match but they failed to capitalised on that.

 

"We were ahead in asking rate at one stage. We were ahead by runs but down in wickets. Had we got some wickets in hands and with the powerplay remaining, we could have won today," he said.

 

"Chasing 320 and get to this close was good but looking back at the opportunities, I would say we could have won today," Sangakkara said.