Cape Town, Jan 18: After registering a second consecutive win against South Africa to take a 2-1 series lead, Indian skipper MS Dhoni was all praise for his team. He spoke to the media about the hard fought win and the areas where the team has improved and those where work is still required before the ICC World Cup 2011.

Excerpts from the interview

On winning two consecutive thrillers

That’s what makes one-day cricket interesting, you know. I think it was a very good effort by some of our batsmen [in the] lower-middle order. But certainly, one good thing for us was the Powerplay bowling and the death bowling. I think we were up to the mark in this game.

On the advice he gave series debutant Yusuf Pathan before he went in

Most of the time we tell youngsters who have come into the international arena to play their natural game – that’s one of the reasons why they are here. So till they get a permanent place in the side, they have to play that natural game because that’s what will get them a permanent place in the side. So we want Yusuf [Pathan] to play the kind of cricket he plays and of course, as he gets more games, scores more runs and gets a taste of finishing games, he will be turning into a match-finishing batsman. The big New Zealand hundred that he scored in India would have definitely changed his batting a lot.

On Harbhajan Singh

He is kind of an all-rounder for us but we never really [make him feel] the pressure [by] saying – ‘You are an all-rounder’. He is bowling really well - that is a big, big plus point for us. I think he is taking the momentum away from the South African batsman and it helps other bowlers to perform also. I think it is really good to have him [either] in the first Powerplay, second Powerplay or at the death. His batting, we all know, can be really destructive, whatever the conditions. That’s what he did in this game.

On whether he was happy with his fast bowlers

Well, there are a few areas where we need to improve. I think when [the pacers] are coming in to bowl the first over or the second over, [that] is the area where we are giving runs. Which means we have to do all the warm-ups and everything in the dressing room or before we are on the bowling mark. We can’t really afford to give 10-15 extra runs […] because it can really matter. And with the World Cup coming up, playing in the sub-continent, we can’t really afford to give anything extra.

On the improvement in the catching and fielding

I know - the ground fielding has also improved. Catching has been the one department where have been decently good. But of course, we have been outstanding in this series so far and our ground-fielding has also improved a bit. One of the reasons is that we have youngsters playing in this series and most of them don’t have any niggles, injuries or any problem. That’s one of the reasons why we are seeing a different fielding side.