Intro:

India's defence of cricket's World Cup title ended with a 95-run defeat against co-hosts Australia in Sydney in Thursday's (March 26) semi-final.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English): Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India captain(Did you think that that total was chaseable?)

"Yes, the reason being I knew the wicket will get slightly better in the second half. You know, when we lost the toss, I was a bit worried where I thought maybe the spinners wouldn't get as much purchase, but I felt Jadeja and Ashwin, both of them, they bowled well. And in hindsight the good thing was we got a bit of reverse swing going, so I felt our fast bowlers could have slightly better because I knew in the second half there wouldn't be much of a reverse swing. That's the only reason I felt our fast bowlers could have done slightly better. But once we came back into the game and restricted them to 327, I felt it was a good score. Yes, there was pressure, but at the same time it needed some good batting and good partnership, so it was a gettable score, but it needed some really hard work to get the runs on the board."

SOUNDBITE (English): Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India captain(What would you say about the way Virat Kohli played today? He looked under pressure, and was it the amount of pressure on him and expectation, or was he not fully fit?)

let have the fact and he played a short and didn't pay off. It happens, and it happens to a lot of batsmen. Once the opposition puts over 300 runs on the board and once they have quality bowlers, at some point of time you have to take that risk, and if it pays off, if it clicks, all of a sudden everything changes. He played a short, it didn't pay off, so that's it. I would say it happens in cricket. About fitness, a few of them had a few niggles, but the whole battle unit was 100 per cent fit. Fast bowlers had a bit of niggle, but nothing that really stops them from playing, so there were no fitness issues as such."

SOUNDBITE (English): Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India captain(You left it really late for the chase when you started to attack. What was the thinking behind that?)

"You know, it's a difficult one because as I said, our lower order, they have not really been able to contribute, so if you start too early and if you lose a wicket, it's nothing really left in the game. You get out for 150 maybe. So you have to take that risk at the right time. Maybe it was a bit too late, but if mine and Ajinkya's (Rahane's) partnership wouldn't have come at that time, we would have packed up for 140 or 150 runs."