Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday blamed an ordinary display from his batsmen responsible for the hosts' six-wicket defeat at the hands of England in the lone Twenty20 International in Kolkata.
Opting to bat, India struggled for a good partnership in the middle as the 121-run victory target was easily achieved by England with eight balls to spare to end the tour on a victorious note.
Dhoni said they were always short on runs despite playing with eight batsmen.
"We were short of runs. We were playing with eight batsmen. We always knew that wicket would be on a slow side. It was important for batsmen to continue till end. We did not get off to a good start.
"If you see the comparison between the two sides, the big difference was the four-wicket and the eight-wicket fall. So, their we lost the game," said Dhoni at the post-match press conference.
Asked about the Eden strip which he had termed 'ugly' for the ODIs, Dhoni said it was a decent one.
{{/usCountry}}Asked about the Eden strip which he had termed 'ugly' for the ODIs, Dhoni said it was a decent one.
{{/usCountry}}"It was not the wicket where you look to score 160-170. 130-135 would have been a very good score on this wicket. But Kevin Pietersen batted well, they calculated the game really well.
"The wicket was on a slower side. As the game progressed, it did not change a lot. It was a bit slow compared to ODIs, overall a decent one. I would not say that it was a bad wicket," he said.