India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni lashed out at the reckless shot selection of his batting colleagues and felt the ill-timed injury to paceman Ashish Nehra also dented their chances in the tri-nation final against Sri Lanka in Mirpur on Wednesday night.
Put into bat, the Indian batsmen -- barring Suresh Raina (106) and Ravindra Jadeja (38) and Virender Sehwag (42) -- let the side down with their questionable shot selection and Dhoni did not even try to hide his anger.
"I don't think the shot selection of our batsmen was great. Thanks to Suresh and Ravindra, we made it a contest but the batsmen should have been more careful," a disgruntled Dhoni said after India lost the final by four wickets.
"You just cannot go out and go with the momentum of the series. We played this tournament on pitches where scoring wasn't an issue. But today there was quite bounce in it and we should have been careful which we were not," added the Indian skipper.
Defending a modest 245, India were handicapped early as Nehra, who had removed Upul Tharanga in the first over, left the field because of a groin injury, having sent down just eight deliveries.
Had the left-arm seamer been there, Dhoni reckoned his team would have put more pressure on the Lankans.
"I think if we hadn't lost Ashish we would have fancied our chances," Dhoni said.
"There wasn't any dew there. Pacers were getting the reverse swing and the spinners got turns. We did miss a bowler. (S) Sreesanth went for some runs initially but came back well with the old ball," Dhoni said.
Even though he was happy with Raina scoring his third ODI ton, Dhoni conceded the left-hander should have tried to stay till the end.
"We could have got another 20 runs in that case. But he is young and learning it. Maybe next time he would try and do that," Dhoni said.
Even though he was pained at losing the trophy, Dhoni said one positive was the bowlers' return to form.
"The good news is that the bowlers are returning to form, which is positive for us. As a team, we rely mainly on the batsmen but it's good to see the bowlers striking form," he said.
His opposite number Kumar Sangakkara, adjudged Man of the Series, was beaming after the win and said he could not make any complaint. PTI
