Dhoni blasts team for playing to the gallery

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni did some hard talking today after the loss against South Africa, asking the batsmen not to play to the gallery.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni did some hard talking on Saturday after the loss against South Africa, asking the batsmen not to play to the gallery.

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India were in a fine position when Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir were batting but they lost nine wickets for 29 runs and were bowled out for 296 runs with eight balls to spare.

"What is important is you don't play for the crowd, you play for your country. We should have batted the full fifty overs. If we could have fielded better we could've made the score look bigger, but we're not a side known for our fielding," said Dhoni.

"We just neeed to bat there for 50 overs after such a start. That did not happen."

About bowling, Dhoni said: "We just needed the bowlers to bowl in the right spot, but they were under tremendous pressure. The batsman played well, and if you're not bowling in the right spot more often than not, you get hit."

Asked what prompted him to give Ashish Nehra the last over, Dhoni said: "Bhajji (Harbhajan) was the only other choice I had in the last over. Ashish has performed well for us in the slog overs and powerplays in the last couple of years and I thought of giving him the ball."