DHAKA: After an embarrassing first-ever ODI series defeat at the hands of Bangladesh, India's limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said that he is ready to step down from captaincy and play as a player if that's what benefits the team.
India lost their second successive ODI to Bangladesh on Sunday to concede a 2-0 lead in the three-match series here, which also confirmed the hosts a place in next year's Champions Trophy.
Bangladesh won the first ODI by 79 runs, followed by a six-wicket win on Sunday to clinch a historic series victory.
Dhoni, who quit Test cricket in the middle of the Australia tour last year, said he will be the first person to take the blame for the series defeat.
"If it is justified that you remove me and Indian cricket will start doing well then definitely I would love to step aside and play as just a player. Ultimately, it is most important for India to win and not who is leading them to the win," the skipper said at the post-match conference. If you play long enough you see the good and bad days on the field. But I am really enjoying my cricket, reports IBNlive.com
"I was never really in line to become the captain, but it was given to me. Now if you take it away from me I will still be happy because what is more important for me is to play for the country and contribute to a win," he added.
"We all felt that he [Rahane] needs pace on the wicket to play well. On faster wickets he plays a lot better. But when he plays at number four or five on a slower wicket, he finds it difficult to freely rotate the strike.
"This problem of his is especially seen at the start of his innings. It's not easy. Ajinkya will have to wait. Whenever Rayudu has gotten a chance to play for India, apart from this match, he has done well for us. He is a good character to have in the side. He is not someone who looks very stylish but is someone who can score runs for you which is more important," the skipper reasoned when asked why Rahane was left out of the eleven in the must-win game.
The skipper was quick to respond when asked where India lost the series.
"It is simple to see what went wrong. It is our batting. I thought it was a decent wicket. Also if you see, our start wasn't good. Then we formed a partnership after that Virat Kohli got out then there was a partnership between me and Dhawan. After that when we thought of increasing the run rate, then Dhawan got out then Rayudu got out immidiately. If the wickets keep falling then there is a difficulty in rotating the strike freely," Dhoni said.
"When you lose wickets one after the other, its difficult to take calculated risks. I felt that was the reason that we couldn't achieve a par score in this game. I don't think we played the kind of game we can play... We didn't play to our potential."
Dhoni also rued the fact that his team was unable to form a good partnership.
"I think everything depends on forming patnerships. Who scored how many runs doesn't matter. What matter is how much run partership we are making. I felt the lower could have contributed a bit more and reach maybe 230 runs. But as I said we kept losing wickers at regular intervals, it just piles on the pressure," he said.
Bangladesh secured their first ever series win against India and a berth in the 2017 Champions Trophy.
BDST: 0908 HRS, JUN 22, 2015
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