Dhoni: We're not clicking as a team

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that poor performance in all the departments of the game was the main reason behind his team's series loss in the Future Cup here Sunday.

"I think we never performed well in any aspect of cricket- batting, bowling or fielding. The only time we did play well was in Chandigarh when we did well and won the match," said Dhoni, after his team lost by 18 runs to Australia in the sixth One-Day International (ODI).

India managed their only win in Chandigarh, while they lost matches at Kochi, Hyderabad, Vadodara and here at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) ground.

The first match in Bangalore was washed out due to rain. The last match will be held in Mumbai Wednesday.

For India, the sixth ODI here was a do-or-die match, as they needed a win to keep their hopes alive in the series.

Andrew Symond's brilliant 107 not out dashed India's hope of a come back in the series.

"We lost couple of wickets at wrong moments. Sachin and Sourav got out at the wrong time and we never got any partnership going. The asking rate was always high and it becomes difficult for a new batsman to come in and chase at a high rate," said Dhoni.

The only two partnerships India had was the 140-run opening stand between Ganguly (86) and Tendulkar (72) and 72-run sixth wicket partnership between Dhoni (26) and Robin Uthappa (44).

"When I and Robin were batting the asking rate touched 10 and it was really difficult for us to come back into the game," said Dhoni.

Rahul Dravid's poor performance with the bat continued here as well but Dhoni didn't seem to be bothered about it.

"He is going through a tough time. But it happens with all batsmen. It has happened to Sachin and me too. It is not an issue and he will be back in form," said the Indian captain.

Dhoni also had words of praise for Australian left-arm spinner Brad Hogg, who picked up four wickets in the match.

"He was the most crucial bowler for the Aussies. Ricky Ponting never used him when the power plays were on. And so it was very difficult to get runs out of him," said Dhoni.

Australian captain Ponting also praised Hogg for the performance.

Ponting said: "317-318 was really a good total on this ground. The wicket was good and the field was lightning fast. In the break I said that my spinners have to bowl well and that made the difference as we pulled back the runs in the middle overs."

"We have a number of contributions and Hogg made a significant contribution. We can't single out anyone as (Mitchell) Johnson and (Brett) Lee were also good in the series," said Ponting.

"It has been a good contest and today was really good one. We got the wickets when we needed. Game can change very quickly in this part of the world," he said.

"Today we kept partnerships going and Symonds played a sensible innings today. I think his innings was the defining moment. He has been confident and has been a changed player from what he was five-six years ago," said the Australian captain.

Symonds himself was proud of his innings, which was a deathblow to the Indians.

"I didn't see the innings so I can't say about it. I just played it. And it really feels good to win the series and I am also proud of the group," said the burly right-handed batsman.

"It was a special innings and I am really proud about it."