Mahendra Singh Dhoni hails contributions of his former teammates and current young lot for making him India's most successful ODI skipper
MS Dhoni celebrates catching England's Alex Hales during the third ODI at Trent Bridge last week. Pic/Getty Images
Birmingham: Under fire till recently, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was overwhelmed with relief on becoming the most successful Indian ODI captain after the win over England here and said the triumph has lifted the gloom that set in due to the Test debacle.
MS Dhoni celebrates catching England's Alex Hales during the third ODI at Trent Bridge last week. Pic/Getty Images
India thrashed England by nine wickets to take an invincible 3-0 lead in the five-match series here to compensate for the 1-3 Test series loss. The victory also made Dhoni the most successful Indian ODI captain with 91 wins.
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"When I started leading the team, I got a fantastic team then, and I have got a fantastic side right now," an ecstatic said Dhoni after the match.
"There will be ups and downs, but thanks to everyone, whoever I have played with. Without their contribution it wouldn't really have been possible. All the senior players I played with and who played under me, followed by the youngsters.
I personally feel we are a very good, a fantastic ODI side. And there will be ups and downs, but what is important is to keep the intent positive. Thanks to all the players.
Change of formats help
"We had a tough time in the Test series, but the change of format helps. This format pushes you to be impressive on the field, but at the same time pushes you to back yourself to play your shots.
I was very happy with the fast bowlers, especially how they bowled with the new ball. And spinners as well, when they have a bit of help from the wicket, they will always do well," he added.
Talking pertinently about the series win, Dhoni said India kept on improving with every match especially after the 1-3 Test drubbing. "The good thing is that we have kept improving from the first ODI. That's definitely a big positive.
It was a good toss to win today. The fast bowlers bowled really well initially and gave us those early breakthroughs because of which we were able to put pressure on their middle order.
Well done, Rahane
"Overall we are very happy. Ajinkya Rahane also got a century and we got an opening partnership. So it was a complete game for us," he said.
Rahane scored 106 runs, his maiden ODI hundred, and while doing so, he put on 183 runs for the opening wicket with Shikhar Dhawan who returned to form with an unbeaten 97. Thanks to their efforts, India scored 212-1 in 30.3 overs overhauling England's 206 all out with 19.3 overs to spare.
"In this particular game, yes, the openers batted well. But they have to continue doing this in each and every game, or most of the games," said Dhoni.
"That is when you can say the problem has been sorted. They will find it tough. At the same time if they can get us a good opening partnership, not always in terms of runs, if they play through 8-10 overs and don't give away wickets scoring even at four to five runs per over, we consider it a very good start because we know we have the batsmen who can make up for the deliveries lost in the first 10 overs.
"As far as this series is concerned, we haven't really faced slog overs from the opposition. Apart from that, the new-ball bowling has been good, spinners have been fantastic, there were run-outs in the games, brilliant catches, partnerships, so everything else has been covered apart from the slog bowling.
"That will only happen if the opposition has wickets in hand," Dhoni added.
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