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For Mahendra Singh Dhoni, missing out on winning a limited overs competition in Sri Lanka is a rarity. Ever since he took over as captain in 2007, only once has Dhoni returned without the ultimate silverware.
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That was before yesterday’s exit from the ICC World T20 in Colombo. Though India beat South Africa by one run, they couldn’t qualify for the semis due to inferior net run-rate. The skipper had good reason to feel gutted. His team didn’t lack experience. Six of yesterday’s playing XI featured in the victorious 2007 World T20 squad.
Dhoni couldn’t help bringing up the rain factor yet again — against Australia in a match which the men from Down Under won by nine wickets.
“If you take the Australia game out, where the rain intervened, we performed brilliantly. We can’t have control over how other teams played,” said Dhoni last night.
“Overall, I’m quite happy with how the team performed. There were instances where we should have had 10-15 runs more on the board. We lost too many wickets early,” Dhoni added.
SA captain AB de Villiers said: “We had a poor tournament. We’ve let the country down.”
Semi-final line-up
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Thurs, 7pm
Australia vs West Indies, Fri, 7pm
(Live on Star Cricket, ESPN & DD)u00a0