‘Lot of people wait for me with open swords’

A relieved Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday took a dig at those calling for his ouster as India’s <g data-gr-id="25">limited overs</g> captain, saying there are a lot of “people who wait with open swords and want him to make mistakes”.

Facing the heat after a run of defeats and for his own poor form with the bat, Dhoni on Wednesday scored a match-winning 86-ball 92 in the second match to guide India to a 22-run victory and level the ODI series 1-1.

“It is not an easy game that we play, a lot of people wait with open swords and want you to make mistakes and have fun with it,” MS Dhoni said after India bowled out South Africa for 225 in 43.4 overs, in a chase of 248. “It was a good game for us. There were a few soft dismissals and we didn’t score something which was par on this wicket. We didn’t start well with our <g data-gr-id="33">bowling</g> but our spinners did well and gave us the breakthrough and later the pacers also came into action and gave us those wickets which <g data-gr-id="30">was</g> needed at that point of time.

“So, overall I would not say it was a complete game because definitely we can play much better with our skills but it is good to win games,” he added. Dhoni made it clear he was not completely happy with the performance of his team but said it was good to win after a series of losses.

“It is not every time you lose in home conditions. Yes, we didn’t play to our full capacity, we are not even 80 <g data-gr-id="24">per cent</g> of what we can, so overall it was a good team performance. As a batting <g data-gr-id="28">unit</g> we may not have scored something which we could have defended but the bowlers showed that we are able to defend that.”