Manchester, Aug 31: Attempting a comeback after the Test series whitewash against England, India were once again bettered by the hosts in a tight T20 finish. Skipper MS Dhoni discussed the game and his team’s performance in a post-match media interaction.

Excerpts from the interview:

On the match slipping away from India towards the end

That is what this format is all about. [In] 20 overs you see ups and downs, you get off to a very good start but it’s important that you capitalise well. The period from eight to ten to thirteen overs is the period which is very important in this format where you start building up for a prolonged slog. If you have wickets in hand you can have maybe six overs or over five overs of slog and get as many runs as possible. [It] didn’t really go our way.

On the Samit Patel versus Munaf Patel battle towards the end of the game and the wide given on the first ball of the last over

When you play games like these, when it gets a bit close and if a mistake is made, you feel a bit frustrated about it; but everybody makes mistakes. If the batsman don’t commit [a] mistake they won’t get out. If the bowlers don’t commit [mistakes] they won’t get scored off so I think it’s a fair enough thing; it’s a tough job for the umpires. We play half the format and come back into the dressing room but they are standing throughout there so I think it’s just part and parcel of the game.

On whether dew was a factor in the end

A bit, yes. In the shorter format it doesn’t have a big impact. [When] you [bowled] the last few overs the ball was fairly new which means it was not getting really wet so it didn’t really have that much of a problem for the bowlers. But we saw quite a few fielders going down which meant we lost a quite a few runs in the fielding department.

On being bowled out within 20 overs despite looking good for a score of 180 or 200 runs at one stage

200 [runs] would have been a fantastic score but it is not really easy to get 200-odd runs. You may see games where the batsmen keep on hitting those big sixes and fours and you get close to 180 runs. We got off to a very good start but those three and four wickets that fell in quick succession – those were the periods that [we should] have got a bit more partnerships [going]. Even a 10- or 15- run partnership between the batters could have [helped us reach our] full quota of 20 overs which means that the last few overs of slog that we missed, we could have got those 10 or 15 runs.

On Ajinkya Rahane

He batted really well in this game. [He] backed himself to play big shots and that’s what this format is all about. If you get a chance to play your shot, if it’s in your place, then you should definitely hit the ball. He backed himself [and] he batted really well and made sure [that] whatever his area is, he will score runs off it.

On the prospect of the team playing the ODIs like world champions setting aside this loss

It’s not about what you have done in the past. I always say, ‘It’s all about what you are doing on that particular day’. Like I said, we started really well but we need to capitalise and once the game gets over that’s the time you can say, ‘We did well throughout that period’. It’s not about what you have done in this series or what you have done in the World Cup. The coming five games [will] be really interesting; [we’ll play in] different conditions. The dew may be a factor at a few venues because we have got spinners and part-timers most of who bowl spin bowling, so it will be crucial.