Chennai, March 20: Candid - is what best describes India's skipper MS Dhoni. Ahead of India’s last and crucial game of the Group phase, MS spoke to the media about the match and team strategy.

Excerpts from the media interaction:

On India not being able to take full advantage of the Batting Powerplays:

What’s important is to know, in five overs anything over 40 runs is considered a very good score and at our best we have scored close to 55-60 runs. You have to keep that in mind and not to lose too many wickets in the power-play. So, those are the prime things which we have to keep an eye on and hopefully, in the coming games we will make the most out of it.

On the batting not having clicked as well as it should have:

Well, that is one way to look at it. One good thing that has happened so far is you know everybody has got a chance to bat under pressure, while there has been no pressure, while chasing and also batting first. So, that’s a big positive. And yes when it comes to the entire batting unit, the seven batsmen taken together, we have not yet fired to our best. This means we have a really good day coming in the field when it comes to the batting department.

On whether the batsmen come under pressure in the Batting Powerplay to manufacture shots:

Personally, I don't think you need to manufacture shots. Because, once the opposition takes the Powerplay, from eleventh to the fifteenth over, how you bat is exactly the same how you need to bat in the Batting Powerplay as well. But at times if you have too many wickets in hand you look to score as many runs as possible. This means if you lose two or three wickets in the first couple of overs, more often than not you waste the last three overs of the Powerplay. So, you need to have a correct balance as to what needs to be done and you need to play cricketing shots. If the ball is in your area, definitely you need to play a big shot, but if it is a good ball then you need to give it respect.

On the wicket and if they will be playing two spinners in the team:

Well that’s definitely an option. But I haven't seen the wicket. There is a big tent over the wicket which is protecting the wicket from the sun so which basically means it will look a lot different at the start of the game from what it is right now. But whatever we have seen in all the games so far it has assisted the spinners. There has been decent bounce for the fast bowlers at the same time and they are able to get reverse swing. So, we will see how it looks tomorrow.

On the possibility of playing two off-spinners:

You will have to wait for the playing eleven until the start of the game.

On Sachin Tendulkar's mood as he is on the brink of a record and what has it been like to play alongside him:

Well he keeps it really simple. He doesn't look at the milestone that’s coming up for him. This is because playing for 20-21 years, the kind of form he has been throughout his career, he knows that every game he plays some kind of a milestone is around the corner. So, he keeps it really simple. He practices well, he still works on his technique and where he feels that an extra bit of effort is needed, he does that. What helps him is how he analyses the wicket and accordingly plans his innings. It has been really good to have him in the side. The amount of experience that he has got, he is always an asset. If you are short of ideas you can definitely walk up to him and there will always be two to three ideas that he can float around. And you can always pick the best option because the more options you have, the more likely the chances of you doing well. If you don't have many options at the end of the day you know it may get a bit difficult. In international cricket we have seen the game changes really quickly and if you are not ready with the plan the game catches you on the wrong foot.

On the team strategy:

A lot depends on the wicket. If you are playing in Bangalore, you will feature a different playing eleven. If you are playing in Chennai, you will have a very different line-up for the Chennai game. In the same way, if you play the quarter-final in Ahmedabad you have to see the wicket. It is very hard. It is very difficult to say if we will go with a 3-1 or 2-2 combination and what looks better. But I think a lot will depend on the nature of the wicket.

On the batting and what went wrong in Nagpur:

The beauty of the batting side is that you don’t need to always pin-point this is what went wrong and this is what needs to be done. The amount of experience we have got, the moment you commit a mistake you realise this is what went wrong. It would have looked very different if me and Virat [Kohli] would have batted the overs that were left. Because at that point, when you lose three or four wickets you need to change your game a bit. All of a sudden from looking to accelerate and get those extra 20 runs, what you need to do is in whatever overs that are left to try and score maybe 4-5 runs an over. Put enough runs on the board so that the bowlers can really look to defend it. It is not rocket science. All our batsmen are experienced. There are only a few who are fairly new to the side. Maybe a Yusuf Pathan or Virat Kohli are the ones who have not played in excess of maybe 50 games. But apart from that all batsmen are fairly experienced .Most of us have played over 100 games. So I don’t think whatever happened needs to be addressed in a big way but the better sides are the ones who don't repeat their mistakes in short intervals.

On the Chennai crowd cheering for whoever plays better:

I have never complained. I have played two editions of IPL over here. This ground, the supporters and fans tend to support good cricket. So, even when the opposition plays a good shot or gets a boundary, they always applaud, which is a good sign. But at the same time we have seen close games happening and all of a sudden they turn and cheer for the bowler during his run-up or the batsman who is batting at that point of time. So, you will get that extra help whenever it is needed. But over all they support good cricket, which is good for both the sides.

On not having beaten SA and England:

Well it is a good learning for all of us. It is not only about how well you have started in a game or how long you have dominated. Until you don't finish it off well, which means everything happens according to the potential, you can’t say you have won a game. And these are the two games where you can say this is the big learning we have had. It is good that it has happened in the Group stage and not in the knock-out stage. So, we will take the learning into the knock-out stage and hopefully we won’t repeat the mistakes that have happened so far. Being human beings we are always going to commit mistakes, but hopefully the interval between two will be longer.