Odishatv Bureau
Kolkata: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed an ordinary display by his batsmen for the hosts` six-wicket defeat at the hands of England in the lone Twenty20 International here. 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 on Saturday.

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. "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. India were drubbed in England this summer as they were whitewashed in all three formats of the game but Dhoni said they were never short on confidence something that helped them bounce back.

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