Hyderabad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday said that his innings was “precious” and “well-calculated” in deciding the course of the match. The India captain, who was adjudged Man of the Match for his unbeaten 87, helped India return to winning ways after the debacle in England.

Dhoni also lauded the bowlers’ efforts at the media conference.

The following are excerpts

On getting back to winning ways

It’s important to win games… If you are not winning too many matches, it’s a problem as you can’t enjoy the game. Winning and losing are part and parcel of the game but the losing streak was a bit too long... In England, in the ODIs, the players did well. The batsmen scored runs but with the rain and the wet ball, the spinners struggled. Today, there was no dew, so the bowlers proved that if the conditions are right, they could win us games…

If there was any change in strategy

The strategy always remains the same, whether we win or lose…

Whether this is a revenge series

For us, it’s not about revenge... It’s a very strong word. With our bowling, which is very new, we want to groom the youngsters so that they perform well in home and away conditions. This is a grooming period we are going through and the bowlers did very well in this game.

If he thought the total (of 300) would be sufficient

Frankly, we were looking at 250-260, which we thought was a good score provided there was no dew in the second half. On Thursday night, there was a fair amount of dew on the field and today there was none at all... Taking dew into account is very difficult. If it had been late November, we know there would be dew, and then it would have been — win the toss and field first. But there was no dew today and the spinners bowled well. Even the pacers got reverse swing and the pitch and outfield was dry.

On how he rates his innings

I don’t believe in ratings… It’s a valuable innings like others I have played in my short career. It was a well-calculated one... I played some shots that I generally don’t play now as I have changed my game and adapted to the No. 6 position… Over covers and all, it was after a long time… I’ve been practising these at the nets. I thought that this was the game I might try it… It was a precious innings.

On batting at No.6 and Jadeja’s innings

If you are batting at No. 6, you bat according to the platform given to you. If the youngsters are asked to play at No. 6 or 7, it is unfair... In subcontinent, the top-order plays most of the overs, and at No.6, you might just have to go out there and play big shots consistently... On a good day, you might get runs. There is very little chance of scoring an 80. So at the end of 15 games, you’ll see your average hanging between 25 and 30… It’s important that the youngsters are given an opportunity to bat up the order once they are permanent in the side. That’s why I think Yuvraj has been brilliant batting at No.6...

The wicket

The wicket was keeping low… The straighter you play the better… It was difficult to rotate the strike. Swann bowled very well in the middle session. It was important to play through that session. With the new Powerplay rules, you have to take the batting Powerplay by the 36th over, which means you still have ten overs left. You can’t just go all out there... One batsmen with tail-enders won’t score much in the end overs. We were a bit cautious… We didn’t want to play too many big shots.

If the Indians will continue to persist with the slower bowlers

The timing of the series is wrong... If it was in April or May, with a guarantee of no dew, the wickets would have turned a lot and even the fast bowlers would have used the slower deliveries. Now, at times, the decisions may go wrong as you are not 100 per cent sure that there will be dew. Once we go to Delhi and Mohali, we don’t know if there will be dew as winter is approaching... That will decide the combination…