Dhoni confident of one more win

MS Dhoni's first major announcement on return to the captaincy was that India were not considering any sweeping changes and that the intent was to finish Sri Lanka off 4-1. Since Dhoni took over the captaincy India have played four dead rubbers and lost all four, and he stated his intention of finishing the contest with a win.

"There would not be too much of experimentation with the side," said Dhoni at the Feroz Shah Kotla, the venue for the final match. "Of course one or two players might be changed but we will go into the match with a strong team. We have won the series but 4-1 always looks better."

Dhoni missed the last two one-day internationals, which India won to take an unassailable series lead, owing to a two-match ban over slow over-rates. The team were without his leadership and weight of ODI runs, but staved off Sri Lanka commendably.

"I think everything went perfect," was Dhoni's assessment of Cuttack and Kolkata. "We got the wickets when we needed them and had partnerships when we required. We did drop a few catches but [the] fielding still looked better than the first two matches, [the] intensity was there and I think overall everything went fine."

The ground fielding showed a marked improvement in Kolkata, especially during the first hour of play, but two catches allowed Upul Tharanga to score a century and Kumar Sangakkara, dropped on 0, a solid 60. "Fielding is something that cannot improve overnight or in a week's time," said Dhoni. "We have to work on our basics and then it would start improving, gradually. We dropped catches in the Twenty20 matches and in this series also. It's important not to spill chances and I can already see slight improvements."

His stand-in, Virender Sehwag, came in for appreciation. "I'm not going to give him marks, that's your job. But he has done a great job, won both matches and we are now playing the last match without any pressure," said Dhoni.