Mumbai: Following India's heart wrenching 214-run defeat against South Africa in the series decider ODI match at Wankhede, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has labelled his side's fielding during the fifth ODI match as 'worst'.
Dhoni, upset with his side's dismal performance, said that he could not even count it as their bad performance.
"As far as fielding is concerned, it was one of the worst I have seen in my career. Yes, we dropped few catches, we bowled too short at the start, but I think up to 20-25 overs we were in control. Later on, they (South Africa) started to accelerate. And 439 runs was a very difficult target to chase. It was such a bad performance that I cannot even count it as a bad performance," Dhoni told media here.
The 34-year-old said that there is a need to analyze the things that were going wrong and have to find an immediate solution to it.
"I think first and the foremost thing you have to realize is what are the things that are going wrong. Because till you don't know the problem, it's very difficult to find the solution. It may be a bowling department, it may be a batting department. It may be the middle-over partnerships. So if you break cricket in small things, it does help you. It actually makes the job much easier to address the problem," he said.
"We feel that our lower order batting is slightly on the lighter side when it comes to playing against good fast bowlers. That actually puts lot of pressure on top six batsmen. We have to find ways, what will be best bowling composition for us. But at the same time not at the cost of being too light when it comes to batting," he added.
Expressing his views on their upcoming Test series against South Africa, Dhoni said that it's completely different format and the results of T20 and ODI series would not going to bother the team.
"Test is completely different, the challenge is completely different. At the same time how you play Test cricket is completely different to how you play ODIs. If you get wickets like Chennai then the Test series will be very interesting. I feel it will be an interesting series and the result of ODI and T20 series will not bother Test players," the Indian skipper said.
Earlier, India had also lost the three -match T20 series by 0-2 and now they have also lost the five-match ODI series. The Indian team will now look to regain their lost pride in the four- match Test series against South Africa, starting from November 5.
