Birmingham: Mahendra Singh Dhoni on tuesday hailed his former and present team for helping him become the most successful Indian ODI captain after the visitors thrashed England by nine wickets in the fourth one-dayer to take an invincible 3-0 lead in the five-match series here.
“When I started leading the team, I got a fantastic team then, and I have got a fantastic side right now,” said Dhoni, who became the most successful Indian ODI captain with 91 wins.
“There will be ups and downs, but thanks to everyone, whoever I have played with. Without their contribution it wouldn't really have been possible. All the senior players I played with and who played under me, followed by the youngsters. I personally feel we are a very good, a fantastic ODI side. And there will be ups and downs, but what is important is to keep the intent positive. Thanks to all the players,” he said.
Talking pertinently about the series win, Dhoni said India kept on improving with every match especially after the 1-3 drubbing in the Test series against England.
“The good thing is that we have kept improving from the first ODI onwards. That's definitely a big positive. It was a good toss to win today. The fast bowlers bowled really well initially and gave us those early breakthroughs because of which we were able to put pressure on their middle order.
“Overall we are very happy. Ajinkya Rahane also got a century and we got an opening partnership. So it was a complete game for us,” he said.
Rahane scored 106 runs, his maiden ODI hundred, and in doing so he put on 183 runs for the opening wicket with Shikhar Dhawan who returned to form with an unbeaten 97.
Thanks to their efforts India scored 212 for one in just 30.3 overs overhauling England's 206 all out with 19.3 overs to spare.
“In this particular game, yes, the openers batted well. But they have to continue doing this in each and every game, or most of the games,” said Dhoni.
“That is when you can say the problem has been sorted. They will find it tough. At the same time if they can get us a good opening partnership, not always in terms of runs, if they play through 8-10 overs and don't give away wickets scoring even at four to five runs per over, we consider it a very good start because we know we have the batsmen who can make up for the deliveries lost in the first 10 overs.
