A relieved Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday took a dig at those calling for his ouster as India's limited overs captain, saying there are a lot of "people who wait with open swords and want him to make mistakes".
Facing the heat after a run of defeats and for his own poor form with the bat, Dhoni today scored a match-winning 86-ball 92 in the second match to guide India to a 22-run victory and level the ODI series 1-1.
"It is not an easy game that we play, a lot of people wait with open swords and want you to make mistakes and have fun with it," Dhoni said after India bowled out South Africa for 225 in 43.4 overs, in a chase of 248.
"It was a good game for us. There were a few soft dismissals and we didn't score something which was par on this wicket. We didn't start well with our bowling but our spinners did well and gave us the breakthrough and later the pacers also came into action and gave us those wickets which was needed at that point of time.
"So, overall I would not say it was a complete game because definitely we can play much better with our skills but it is good to win games," he added.
Talking about his performance, Dhoni said: You always want to play well for your country but not always things goes your way.
"In the last 2-3 years, it's the top order major work for us they loads of runs. That means the middle and lower order batsmen get to bat after 35 overs. We do crib about the fact that we are not good enough to go for big shot straight away. That is something we have to improve. Someone has to do it. It is fact but sometimes you have to do the dirty job. It has been a good 2-3 years with few ups and downs. But overall as a team we have done well."
His South African counterpart AB de Villiers blamed the batsmen for the defeat. "We had a good start, the top three did well but we couldn't extend it after the opening partnership. We have the experience but unfortunately we got out in soft ways tonight.
"In chases like this you always have to stay positive no matter what total you are chasing. I tried to change my game plan and unfortunately got out in the way. We couldn't execute well. "It was a very good performance from our bowlers, but unfortunately we could not pull it through when MS and the tail-ender were batting. We would have loved to chase something like 200," he added.