Kartik bowled brilliantly - Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was relieved to be fronting a press conference after India had won, and the smiles and jokes appeared more natural and less forced.

"Well of course it was a tight match. They [Australia] got 200 [193] runs [batting first]. Personally I thought it was a good wicket though it does a bit under lights," said Dhoni. "There was plenty of bounce and seam movement. So I knew it would be a tough match but I thought we would win comfortably, but I would take it [the two-wicket win] with an open heart."

When asked if it was a tough decision to leave Rahul Dravid out of the XI, Dhoni flashed his widest smile. "Well he was rested," was all Dhoni would say before getting quite animated when speaking about Murali Kartik, a player he backed and who has delivered for him.

"I think he was really excited specially if you look at the stage when he was called back into the side. He needed to perform, he was quite determined to perform," said Dhoni. "He even had an injury on his right thumb, but still he was quite eager to play. The way he bowled I think it was brilliant. If a bowler keeps bowling in one place, you can set up an aggressive field. I think that was not the case in the previous matches. I think we bowled well, apart from the initial start when we were a bit erratic and gave too many runs with the new ball."

Kartik's ten-over spell of 6 for 27 also came in for praise from Ricky Ponting. "Kartik bowled well today. He bowled well even in his first game [in Chandigarh]," Ponting said. "The wicket here was different because the top was a bit soft. Still you have to execute the skills and he did extremely well and deserved every wicket he got."

Like in Chandigarh, Australia had a firm grasp on the game before India made a winning fightback, something Ponting wasn't pleased about. "Whenever we lose, it's disappointing and more so when we lose from winning position.

"I thought 193 was defendable because of the conditions as the ball was swinging and seaming. We wanted early wickets which we got but we could not get wickets in the middle and that's why we lost."

Dhoni said it was not merely about backing Kartik. All players needed the backing of their captain. "Well of course I believe in each and every player. If you look at RP [Singh], the way he started [the series] he would have been sidelined and he would have never got to play," said Dhoni. "You have to keep the confidence in the players and that's how you gain their confidence. I want 14 players in my team whom I want to stand in front of a truck and they are willing to do it."

Even with the series gone, well before this game began, Dhoni stressed that this match was a big one for his side. If anything, he said India were in a strong position in the Nagpur game, and should have won that one.

"Well of course even if you see the last match, I think we were into the match and we could have won. But unfortunately we couldn't, in between we made a few mistakes," said Dhoni. "But we knew this was a very crucial match for us, we didn't start the series well, but at least we wanted to end it on a positive note. We know we didn't bat well, but as a team we played really well to win this match. With the new ball we got initial breakthroughs, but more accidentally. I thought the Australians bowled brilliantly. They made the batsmen play each and every delivery and that was very crucial."

Despite the defeat, Ponting agreed it had been an exciting contest. "It was a very entertaining game though it was low-scoring. The ball was swinging all day, which made it a pretty-even contest," Ponting said. "It showed that even low-scoring matches can be entertaining because of the intensity right through the match."

Dhoni also counted quite a few positives from this series despite losing 2-4. "If you see Robin [Uthappa] he has matured a lot as a player. Although he is an opener he is the kind of batsman you can shuffle around to play at any place," said Dhoni. "He is a big asset for the team. He plays positively and fielded well through the series. It was a good series for him."

At the end of his first ODI series as captain, Dhoni conceded there were differences in handling a young Twenty20 unit and a side like this one. "Well it's a lot different. If look at Twenty20, we had a very young side so keeping the intensity going through out the 20 overs was never a problem," he said. "But over here you have to keep the guys on their toes. At times you have to take help from people like Yuvraj and Robin Uthappa who are on the field and tell them 'No boss, you have to pick things up, your intensity is going down.' And that was one of things that we did really well today."