New Delhi, Oct 17: As India inflicted yet another crushing defeat on England in the second ODI of the five-match series, Indian captain MS Dhoni was happy that his side had found their winning groove. After a disappointing series in England, MS said his side had shown character on the England tour and that he was happy to be on the winning side back home in India.

Excerpts from the media interaction:

On whether the shoe is on the other foot after two games

I’m really glad we are the winning side. It’s always good. The England series was not really a good one for us, but we showed character in the sense we were not really frustrated. It was a difficult series and we had not won single game so the team showed a lot of character not to lose their temper and still be social on the field. It’s good to be on the winning side especially back home in India.

On the energetic fielding and bowlers complementing each other

I think we needed a good start because [if] you are batting under the lights later on, you don’t want to be chasing too many runs. We all know batting first you have a bit of an advantage. If you get off to a good start you can put up a score where you can put the pressure on the opposition. Vinay [Kumar] and Praveen [Kumar] gave us a start that was needed, couple of early wickets. After that when we got the third one, we got the fourth very quickly, which means we never let them get a partnership. That was very crucial for us. And Vinay bowled well along with some of the other bowlers.

On Gautan Gambhir and Virat Kohli’s partnership

Gautam played brilliantly. Virat is a strokeplayer. We all know once he is set he will really play and take the attack to the opposition. But Gautam’s innings was crucial. He went [in] at No. 3, [when] the ball was doing a little bit, which meant we needed some kind of a partnership going and it was provided by Gautam and Virat. They batted really well, took calculated risks in between and made sure that they were the ones who were still batting when the game got over.

On the pitch

I think it was a bit too placid, I would prefer a wicket with a bit more turn. When it comes to a normal sporting wicket, a turning track is a sporting wicket in India. I would love to see a wicket like that especially in the coming three games. But I think the wicket played really well, it was a perfect ODI wicket and especially later on, under the lights, [with] a bit of dew, [it] became better to bat on.

On whether India is looking for a 5-0 win

It’s not about what we want to achieve in the series. For us, it’s all about winning one game at a time, doing the right things. It’s not about being satisfied with 3-2. Whatever the result may be, it’s all about improving ourselves as cricketers, especially with some of the youngsters in the side. It’s very important that they get to see what international cricket is all about and there will be pressure on them also as the series progresses.