It is disappointing, but it's still a learning curve: MS Dhoni

It was a surprise when the host Zimbabwe beat India in the first T20 international by 2 runs, after losing the ODI series 3-0. After the match Indian skipper, MS Dhoni said that hopes the youngsters had something to learn from their mistakes.

The young Indian batting line-up threw their wickets away at crucial junctures and Dhoni hopes them to improve their game when India take on Zimbabwe for the 2nd ODI on Monday.

“I feel, though we lost the game – it is disappointing – it is still a learning curve for the youngsters, provided they are learning out of it,” said Dhoni.

“You have to take it in a serious manner because whenever you will represent the country, whenever they get a chance to be part of the proper Indian team for a consistent period of time, they will feel the pressure. That will be the time when a game like this or a tour like this will really help them ease out that pressure,” he added.

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Neville Madziva, who bowled the last over restricted India even with the skipper at the crease. Dhoni said he should have completed the job but expected a more sensible approach from his batsmen.

“I felt the last ball was brilliant but that is what my job is, so maybe I am the person to finish the job. But at the same time, we kept losing wickets and what happens at that stage is that you are losing wickets and you are giving one dot ball and at the same time, the set batsman is not getting strike.”

“I felt the batsmen will have to take the responsibility. The reason being, few of them, they were set, they were batting well. When you are chasing targets, you need to take it to the end and then look to play the shots. That was something that was lacking in this game,” Dhoni pointed out.

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He further added that international cricket is not IPL and there is not much room for errors in the international arena. “Let’s talk about IPL, it doesn’t really matter. You can play your big shots. There is no pressure of result. You say ‘okay, in 14 games if you play five or six innings, you will take the team through.’ Over here it is slightly different.”

“This is where you have to personally tell them as to ‘this could have been done at that point of time.’ And also that’s how you learn. It is not that you have to commit a mistake to learn.”

The Indian skipper went on to say that the win proves that each and every international team needs to be given a lot of respect. “It doesn’t matter which team you are playing. It is a levelling experience. What I mean by that is you need to give a lot of respect to cricket and when you go in to bat or bowl in the field, irrespective of the opposition, you have to be at your best.

“You can’t play with your reputation or playing eleven that looks good on paper. What is important is how well you play on the field, how well you are executing. It is the cricket that wins you the games, not the teams. I felt we were way off today, both in the bowling and the batting department,” he concluded.