India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] blamed the heart-breaking 25-run loss to Pakistan in the tri-series final in Dhaka on Saturday on the top-order's failure to build solid partnerships, while admitting that he too committed a couple of tactical blunders.

Visibly shaken after the loss, Dhoni said the 315-run target set by Pakistan last night would not have been much of a challenge had his top-order played sensibly.

"We lost wickets at regular intervals. It is very important to see yourself in the last five or seven overs, if you have wickets in hand. If you see the wicket it was a flat wicket," he said after the match.

• Pakistan beat India in tri-series final | Images

"Even 300-odd is really chaseable if you have wickets in hand. They were 100 for one in 25 runs and that went against our bowlers.

"They played some good shots and that really put the bowlers under pressure. We did not get a good start. Losing wickets at regular intervals was the killer," he added.

Dhoni admitted that sending Suresh Raina up the order instead of himself was a mistake but that alone cannot be considered the reason for the defeat.

"It was a mistake. I should have come ahead of Raina. Having made that mistake, I cannot really help it now. That decision was taken in a positive frame of mind. If Yuvraj [Singh] would have played through and Raina would have rotated the strike better instead of taking singles when Yuvraj was batting," he rued.

"That would have put us in a comfortable position at the end of the 40th over. Me, Irfan [Pathan] and couple of other guys coming it would have been an easy target. But as I said we kept losing wickets. We never really looked in to accelerate and we lost wickets. That weakened our chances," Dhoni said.

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The skipper also conceded that his field placements could have been better when Salman Butt [Images] and Younis Khan let loose en route to their respective hundreds.

"Well, he [Butt] was scoring through square leg and sweeping towards square leg. Most of times he cleared the boundary, picked the ball from outside off from the stump as well. He took on the bowlers and more often he was successful and that really put bowlers under pressure," he explained.

The stumper said the Pakistanis used the field to their advantage, but the Indians were guilty of playing extravagant shots at a time when caution and restraint were needed.

"More often than not, we ended up with the fielder. If you see each time the fielder had never have to move to take the catch. You can say that selection of shots were not appropriate but at the same time you have to play your shots as well because you are chasing over six runs an over. We never had the momentum with us," he said.

On Pakistan's performance, Dhoni said, "They were 100 for one in 25 overs and then see how much they scored in the last 25 overs. They put loads of pressure. They are learning from each match. We win some and we lose some matches."

Dhoni defended the decision to send all-rounder Yusuf Pathan up the order but admitted that the youngster may not have been all that prepared to handle the pressure in his debut series.

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"Yusuf is one of the batsmen who can actually go after the bowlers. He can utilise the last seven overs field restrictions. That was the motto. Even if he gets out you do not loose too much. If he clicks, it really helps the side. Capitalising the last seven overs was the point with which he was sent on number four," Dhoni said.

Meanwhile, Dhoni's opposite number Shoaib Malik [Images], who was under pressure to deliver after a scathing e-mail from Pakistan Cricket Board president Nasim Ashraf lambasted the team's show in the series' preliminaries, was all praise for the two centurions Butt and Younis.

"The way Younis and Salman batted that was the turning point of the match. I think in this kind of track if you score 300, it's difficult to get. I think that's hat happened," he said.

Malik said such was the pressure on his team that it was not sure of victory even when India were nine down as Dhoni still occupied the crease.

"When we had them nine down, Dhoni was still out there, so we were not thinking of we had the match. We know India have a great depth in batting and the way they bat with left-right combination, it was always going to be difficult for us to defend the target.

"At some stage when they had lost five wickets, they were still going at 5-6 runs per over, so it was pretty tough," he said.

Malik said despite the pressure, the dressing room atmosphere was not tense.

"The dressing room atmosphere was good and everyone was backing each other. The team's meeting with PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf went off well," he said.