‘Last four overs cost us the match’

From one champion to another: Virat Kohli, who had a great tournament, congratlates Kumar Sangakkara. Photo: AP

M.S. Dhoni admitted that India’s poor batting effort in the last four overs of its innings had possibly cost it the final of the ICC World Twenty20.

“I think so, yes,” he said after the six-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.

“The last four overs is a place where we really want to score as many as you can and we couldn’t capitalise. But you have to give credit to the Sri Lankan bowlers. They were looking for wide yorkers and all the balls were perfect,” he said.The popular reaction was to adjudge Yuvraj Singh guilty but Dhoni would brook no criticism of his player. “The thing is he was trying; that is the most you can do,” he said.

“Yes, fans get angry but it’s the individual who’s more disappointed than them. Nobody wants to really play bad cricket. In front of 40,000 people you don’t really want to drop a catch or mis-field. Yuvi tried his best, but it was an off day for him.”

Kumar Sangakkara, who made a match-winning, unbeaten 52 in his last T20 match for Sri Lanka, was delighted.

“This is the first time I have been a part of a team that has won a World Cup. We’d been disappointed four times before. It’s hard to describe exactly what you feel, but you feel humble. It’s been an amazing journey. It’s time to walk away, and to walk away like this is even better,” he said.