Things at Lord's, the spiritual home of cricket, are not so perfect after all.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images], India's saviour in the first Test, has said "a problem with the sightscreen" led to his dismissal in the first innings and he was lucky enough to stay unbeaten in the second and see India through.

"There was a problem with the sightscreen at the pavilion end. I could not see the ball on three occasions, and on all those occasions, I played the same shot," Dhoni said.

"In the first innings I got out, but in the second innings it went for four," the wicketkeeper-batsman said after the match.

He said the problem was that due to the shorter sightscreen the ball was difficult to spot in the similar coloured background.

"The sightscreen is small but the background is also maroonish and the ball mixes up with the colour," he said.

"There is also the clothing of the spectators. During the first innings, it was also bright (because of the sun)."

Dhoni hit 76 not out which, in captain Rahul Dravid's [Images] words, "got India out of jail" against England [Images] on Monday.

His uncharacteristically subdued knock helped India hang in until the rains arrived to keep them unconquered at 282 for nine while chasing a target of 380 on the fifth and final day.

Dhoni said his match-saving innings showed how far he has come from being a slam-bang batsman to one who plays "according to situation".