New Delhi: After losing the first bilateral ODI series against Bangladesh on Sunday, MS Dhoni gave hints of stepping aside as the captain of the ODI team. India’s limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said that he is ready to step down from captaincy and play as a player if that’s what benefits the team.

During the post match press conference of second ODI, which India lost by six wickets to Tigers, an emotional Dhoni stated: “If it’s justified that you remove me, that I am the reason about everything going bad in Indian cricket, I would love to step aside.”

“I am always the one who is responsible for anything bad that happens in Indian cricket. Everything that happens is because of me. Even the Bangladesh media is smiling,” the skipper added. MSD, who promoted himself to the number 4 position in a crisis situation, blamed poor batting for the series loss.

“We need to put runs on the board. We didn’t get to a good start, and whenever there was a partnership we lost two wickets together. You have to take risks in such a game, but if you keep losing two wickets in a row, it becomes difficult to do so. If you have 200 on the board, it is quite easy for the other teams to chase so I won’t blame the bowlers for this game,” Dhoni added.

Indian team has been non-stop cricket for the last 14-15 months. When asked whether fatigue was a reason for the loss, Dhoni said: “It has been a long season of cricket for us. Four and a half months in Australia. Before that two and a half months in England. So it keeps going on.

“It is very difficult for me to say if this (fatigue) is the reason. But it is the same team that keeps on playing in every series. So it becomes a bit tiring to consistently turn up and perform,” he said. We as batsmen got starts, but we didn’t make it big. Where we lacked was the fact that we lost wickets. Most of them played two or three deliveries,” stated Dhoni.

Interestingly, with the help of his 47-run knock, Dhoni remained 2nd highest run-scorer for India in the match. Bangladesh now have an unassailable lead of 2-0 in a three-match series. This is a memorable victory for the Tigers, which has also helped them to qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy.

Bureau Report