Mahendra Singh Dhoni was smiling after India maintained its clean slate against Pakistan in the World Cup.
The side has defeated Pakistan in all the five matches between the two nations in the premier ODI competition so far. India's third entry in the final was fuel-driven by unity and team-work, said Dhoni.
The Indian captain added, “In this campaign, we have backed each other. This has really worked.”
Asked about his decision to include the third pacemen and leave out off-spinner R. Ashwin, Dhoni explained, “The Pakistanis play spin well and we felt if we fielded only two pacemen and one of them went for runs, the attack would be thin. So we included an additional paceman.”
Dhoni also said, “But this was not a typical Mohali pitch. It got slower towards the end. But our pacemen and our spinners bowled in the right areas. We handled the pressure well. A total of 260 was good but we had to be careful.”
On the final, Dhoni said, “We are confident. Sri Lanka has also played good cricket in the tournament. It should be a good match.”
Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said the dropped catches cost his side heavily. Yet, he was willing to give India the credit. “They are playing well as a unit.”
Afridi said Pakistan's inability to build partnerships hurt the side in the end. “We lost back-to-back wickets and this never helps.”
He was all praise for young paceman Wahab Riaz. On Umar Gul's disappointing display, Afridi said, “Anyone can have a bad day.”
Despite the setback against India, Afridi said Pakistan had exceeded expectations in the tournament.
