'‘83 victory was special and so is this triumph'

Determination, desire resulted in victory: Dhoni

Johannesburg, September 25:

Having made history by winning the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup after a dream final against arch rivals Pakistan, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni attributed the victory to the team's "determination and desire."

"Whatever is destined to happen will happen. But I believe, unless your do the required hard work you don't achieve it.

"In this competition, we played a few games that went down to the wire. But everyone who has done well in those crunch games, when it mattered, will relish his performance for the team cause," said Dhoni.

"It's not just my own destiny, it was the destiny of the whole team," he said.

"We had the determination and will to do well because we didn't do well in the last World Cup. Besides, we enjoyed this format of the game. And since no one expected us to do well, there was no pressure. The team showed the right attitude and gave more than hundred per cent," the wicketkeeper-batsman said.

"We enjoyed our cricket and we enjoyed each other's performance. If I get a fifty, I am bound to enjoy it. But if my knock can get a smile on the faces of other players in the side, it means a lot. That's what the team wants and that's what my team did," Dhoni said.

"It was a great team effort. There's no batsmen or bowler who hasn't done well in the tournament. And the fielding was top class. Yuvi was brillaint, RP too bowled brilliantly, Harbhajan too bowled well, everybody was great. Whoever was given the responsibility did it to the best of his ability to the needs of the side," the skipper said.

Asked to compare his team's triumph to India's World Cup victory in 1983, Dhoni would rather live in the present.

"I was just two years old when India won the World Cup in 1983, so, obviously, I didn't see it and I have no idea how big cricket was then.

"But as I said before, I live in the present and I think my team and my support staff was very involved and very focused," he said.

"We landed here after travelling for two-and-a-half months in Ireland and England, so it wasn't easy. But the way the things were planned, it worked well for us. We always felt fresh because we didn't get carried away by practising too hard before big games. But we always gave more than hundred per cent on the ground," Dhoni said.

"So it's not fair to compare. Our victory in 1983 was very special and so was this triumph."

Asked whether he ever thought that India could lose the game after Misbah-ul-Haq turned on the heat hitting those towering sixes, Dhoni said he was backing himself to get a wicket.

"We knew they didn't have too many wickets in hand. We knew if we could pick up a wicket or two things would change pretty quickly. In pressure games, on the big stage, how you handle pressure is very important.

"I was backing myself on the fact that, as the overs go by, and the asking rate gets tougher, our chances would get better," the Jharkhand cricketer said.

"Harbhajan, despite being hit for three sixes, bowled well. Joginder bowled an excellent over under pressure in a crunch situation."

Dhoni said Joginder Sharma was the best option for the final over under the circumstances.

"Joginder was the best option available because Harbhajan went for a few and he (Misbah) was timing well against him. So I thought that it will be a bit difficult to hit a pacer.

"I told him (Joginder) whatever the outcome, go and look to bowl six deliveries. I told him 'you just have to beat the bat a few times and the game will swing our way. The way he responded was brilliant."

The Indian captain also praised Rohit Sharma's effort in making those 30 crucial runs in the final overs that gave his team something to bowl at.

"His runs were very important. It added to the total and that added to the confidence and to the morale.

"We were looking to get 140 and we got 157. Rohit really batted well in the chances he got in this tournament."

The captain attributed India's slow progress in the last 10 overs to some excellent bowling by Pakistan pacers.

"Pakistan bowled well, and their bowlers were up to the mark. In the last 10 overs they bowled lot of yorkers and that worked well for them.

Dhoni lauded his bowlers and fielders for pulling back Pakistan after the rousing start to their innings.

"They got to a great start (when batting) and got good score in the first five overs. But our bowlers did well and the fielders backed them up well. We had at least one run out in every game and it makes a huge difference.

Dhoni also acknowledged that his team was strong in the mind on the big stage in the World Cup final as compared to the opposition.

"We were up a notch in the mind games. We were better off. We were doing what we were supposed to do.

"An India-Pakistan final is a bit special. It's different. It's the biggest stage. But still, it was just another match. We didn't take any pressure and played it that way," he said.

Source: www.expressindia.com