India's quest ended in heartbreak as a gutsy Sri Lanka produced a
clinical display to win their maiden ICC World Twenty20 trophy with a
convincing six-wicket victory here.
"It was an off day for Yuvraj. He tried his best but it's not easy
to come in and start slogging from ball one," Dhoni said at the post-match
press conference, though his statement lacked conviction.
There were a few questions on Yuvraj which he completely deflected
during his shortest media interaction in the whole tournament.
Asked if there was a message for Yuvraj when he got stuck in the
middle, Dhoni said, "No, he was just trying his best. That's the most you
can do."
Dhoni was specifically asked about Yuvraj's future in this current
set-up considering others have more or less performed their duties or at least
have age on their side. The smiling skipper gave an open-ended reply.
"Indian cricket season is over...The next selection is far away, so let's
not talk about it."
There had been angry reactions from the fans and he got a bit serious
while answering a query. "Look, you need to understand that fans can be
angry but they can't be more disappointed than the individual who is out there
in the middle.
"As a player, you don't want to do badly in front of 40,000
people. You don't want to drop catches, but off-days happen. And it can happen
with any athlete. May be it was an off-day for him [Yuvraj].
"Fans will be disappointed but it is the player who is always more
disappointed than the fans," he explained.
When someone asked if Yuvraj's innings "robbed the team" of
momentum, Dhoni seemed like wanting to put an end to the endless queries.
"It's a team thing. So let us not talk about individuals.
"We wanted to score as many runs as possible in the last four
overs but credit to Lankan bowlers. They bowled perfect wide yorkers. I, for
one, know that Malinga bowls these superb wide yorkers. They got only one wide
during that phase. They executed their plans brilliantly.
"We were a bit disappointed at the break for not having scored
more than 130 but then we were thinking about Champions Trophy. It was also a
20-over match but here we had one fielder more outside the circle," the
skipper said.
As for why he didn't start with his best bowler Ravichandran Ashwin,
Dhoni defended the move saying, "We wanted to use Ashwin in the middle
overs against left-handers. So we couldn't start with him. But the pacers went
for runs and I had to bring him early and he also got a wicket.
"Also the wicket changed a bit under lights as the ball started
coming onto the bat," he added.
Dhoni tried to count the positives from the tournament, having been
consistent right from the practice match against England.
"The spinners have bowled well as they got a bit of help and turn
from the track. Virat has been brilliant for us as he has been in the last one
and half years and even more. We were consistent from start and hence there
weren't too many changes in the playing XI."
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