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4 things the skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, said at the press conference will blow your mind…
‘There will be a conflict of interest if I start reviewing my performance’
‘PIL needed to review my captaincy’
‘I am captain at the moment and somebody else will come later’
‘We don't have a seaming all rounder so let's not even go to that topic’
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, on Sunday, made light of the criticism he is facing in the wake of continuing poor results by saying that a review of his leadership can be done only through a public interest litigation (PIL).
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India suffered a third successive series defeat under Dhoni when the side conceded an unassailable 0-3 lead to Australia following a three-wicket loss in the third ODI in Melbourne.
"There will be a conflict of interest if I start reviewing my performance. We would have to put a PIL to judge my performance as the skipper," Dhoni said jokingly at the post match press conference.
On a serious note, he argued that the team's faltering bowling unit is just not experienced enough.
"It is not about the leader. I am captain at the moment and somebody else will come later. It is more important to see the areas we are lacking, the departments which have to improve when it comes to shorter formats.
"We don't have a seaming all rounder so let's not even go to that topic. If you see this series it is a relatively inexperienced bowling lineup. Ishant Sharma has played a lot of international cricket but he is not someone who has been consistently part of the format.
"Umesh Yadav has been on and off and there are others who have made their debuts here. So we have to assess right now is how good the individuals are and what are they doing and what's their rate of development," Dhoni said.
Once again though a top-order batsman's effort went in vain. After Rohit Sharma's two hundreds in the first two games, it was Virat Kohli's turn this time, as his 24th ODI century came in losing cause.
Dhoni lauded the progress Kohli has made in his career, having seen him from a very young age.
"He has consistently performed and improved his performance. He is the best amongst the Indian batsmen, along with Rohit in the shorter format. Today the way he paced his innings, it was slightly different to the first two games. But he reads the game really well, which I think, is very important in the middle overs. Virat is somebody that we'll have to look up to in the future, because he's somebody who will take the team forward for a long time," Dhoni said.
"He (Kohli) is one youngster who has developed really well. I still remember the days when he was part of the side at first, then he was dropped and then he came back in. It was in the Sri Lanka series I remember, and he opened for us and then he batted lower down for us.
"I always felt he was a top-order batsman and once he got the chance he grabbed that opportunity. Nobody even talks about anyone else at that slot which I feel is the good part," said Dhoni.