Birmingham: Even at the team's peak, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has hardly ever given credence to the ebb and flow of rankings or ratings; so he will probably not lose much sleep over India officially yielding the No. 1 spot on Saturday.He did look shaken when he came for the press conference but that could be because of the huge drubbing; he barely smiled as he is wont too but was quick to regain his composure when googlies were bowled at him.
"What do you mean we have not worked hard enough," he said, when asked if India had not prepared hard enough to retain their top spot. "We have played for 200 days in the last year. If that is not hard work, what is," he asked, defiantly. When pointed out that itself was the key problem - too much cricket - he refused to take the bait. "That is for the BCCI to decide. We give our best in every match. We have tried to utilize every opportunity given to us," he said. When asked if as captain he would address the issue, he finally said: "No comment."
As for the ranking, he reiterated that being No. 1 or not is not so important. "As a unit you need to play consistent cricket," he said. "At the top, it's like a cat and mouse game. Everybody is trying to catch up with you," he pointed out. He conceded that they had been outplayed in virtually every session.
"England played much better than us," he said, congratulating them on their ascension. "Nothing has clicked for us in this series. We have managed to perform only at 60% of our potential," he conceded.
England, on the other hand, took great pride in taking the top spot. "Getting there has been the goal for us for a long time. We have worked very hard for this and it fills me with pride to know we have completed something special," captain Andrew Strauss said.
"You need to be consistent over a long period of time to reach No. 1," he said. "And that has not necessarily been a great strength of English cricket in the past so we are really proud of what we've achieved," he added.
On his decision to bowl first, he said, "It wasn't a massive gamble. By the time we batted the wicket had gone flat."
