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Dhoni backs India to bounce back

LONDON - India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni rallied his side following their seven-wicket World Twenty20 loss to the West Indies by saying history proved they could come back from a reverse at this stage.

Defeat in their Super Eights opener left India on the backfoot. But that was equally the case in South Africa two years ago when a team captained by Dhoni were beaten in the corresponding fixture by New Zealand.

But from then on India went through the rest of the tournament unbeaten and defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by five runs in a thrilling final.

India next face England at the Oval on Sunday before completing the second round against tournament favourites South Africa - who earlier this week pulverised the hosts at Trent Bridge.

Against the West Indies, India collapsed to 29 for three before an innings of 67 from Yuvraj Singh helped them recover to 153 for seven.

But they were left powerless in the field by all-rounder Dwayne Bravo’s unbeaten 66.

Asked about India’s situation, Dhoni told reporters: “This brings the best out of us.

“We’ll be under pressure to perform in the next game but that was the story in the last World Cup,” the wicket-keeper added.

“After the first (Super Eights) game, every other game was a do-or-die situation for us and we played some of the toughest teams and got through to the finals to win the Cup so it’s not like we can’t do it again.

“You have to be at your best because some of the teams are playing really good cricket.

Looking ahead, Dhoni said: “Hopefully everyone will come through this and when we’re under pressure that’s often when India’s best performances happen, so when we turn up next for the game against England we will be at our best.

“We are still at the same place we were before this game. We still have two more games and nothing much changes. We’re concentrating on the next game because whatever is gone is gone.

“We’ll just consider it an off day for us but in this format we have seen some of the best sides losing so we’re not worried too much about it.

“Even though we didn’t bat well, we still had the firepower to make a game out of it and it ran until the second last over.”

Dhoni, who admitted Bravo had “taken the game away from us”, said India’s batsmen had let the side down.

“On these sort of tracks it (your score) should be at least 160 because the wickets are nice.

“We still really fancied our chances with 153 on the board if we could contain them in the first six overs when Chris Gayle was batting because he can really take the game away from you.

“I think the bowlers did well to contain him but in the middle overs they batted really well and scored runs off the spinners.”