JOHANNESBURG, May 24: Mahendra Singh Dhoni will have to wait another year to lay his hands on the IPL Trophy. The semi-final loss must have been crushing but he has a bigger job on hand, and that is to lead India in their defence of the World T20 Championships. Dhoni had an extensive chat with the media on Saturday; most of it addressing India’s chances in England and of course what went wrong against Bangalore. Excerpts:

On gains for the World T20 from the IPL: The emergence of part-timers who have done well is a positive sign. They have bowled well even when the field restrictions were on. Harbhajan and Ojha have also has bowled well. The ball holds on a bit over here and England could be different, but the overall experience will count. Most of the games in the IPL went really close and players know to handle pressure better. This experience will definitely have a positive impact on the team.

On new Indian talent emerging: We have seen new domestic players performing at this level. Some of the players who didn’t perform in last edition have come up with special performances. The 2008 IPL did help the Indian team to perform better when it comes to T20 and even the one-day format. Hopefully this year’s tournament will take us to the next level.

There are loads of positives to take away. The team was announced well in advance. I think we have the best 15 we could possibly have and now we also have a lot of players whom we can groom for the future.

On CSK’s performance this time: People say it’s a batsman’s game, but bowlers are important too. Our bowling department was very fragile from the start and injuries never really helped. Tyagi, Albie Morkel and Gony were all suffering from injuries. The overall show was satisfying. We definitely need to field better. We are a better fielding side than what we showed. That is an important area in T20 because every run counts. And every change of strike really matters. I am disappointed not to be in the final, but we got beaten by a side that played better cricket on the day.

On batsmen failing to convert their starts: Yes that was the major problem today (Saturday). It’s important not to lose wickets at regular intervals. At times you look to get a par score, rather going for 170 or 180. You look for a score, that you can really defend. We lost wickets and they bowled really well in the last two overs. I think we were about 15 runs short. But I still think we could have bowled better, especially with the new ball.

On introducing Murali early: I don’t think he could have done anything better. Four overs for 16 runs and that’s the maximum a guy can do. At the end you know he was really useful. At the start of the innings, they could have played him just normally. But later on they had to preserve wickets. It was a good plan and it really worked for us. He made himself count throughout the tournament. And he bowled well. I could not have asked for more.

On his slow approach while batting: As I said earlier I was looking for a par score. I could have really gone for a big shot and one more wicket and we could have ended with 135-140. I am not the kind of player who goes for a par plus score. So I was quite happy to get a score close to 160. We could have defended that but it was not to be.