It's the toughest Test win under my captaincy: Dhoni

Chennai: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday described the enthralling six-wicket win over England in the first cricket Test here as the toughest of his four-match old tenure as captain.
"The toughest win. We were not present for the first three days of this Test, did not take wickets and bat the way we should have batted. But we won this match over the last two days," Dhoni said after the match.

Dhoni was all praise for man of the match Virender Sehwag who gave a rollicking start to the Indian run chase with a 68-ball 83 last evening.

"Of course, Tendulkar and Yuvraj batted really well to finish off the match. But they were able to do that because of the start given by Sehwag. He was the play maker and without him, we would have been defending this match.

"Sachin was brilliant and Yuvraj was amazing. It was tough on days four and five. (My) batting with Bhajji in the first innings was key as we reduced the lead," Dhoni said.

About the Chepauk pitch, the Indian captain said, "The wicket was really difficult to bat on the fourth and fifth days. It was turning and jumping. But our batsmen batted so well."

Losing captain Kevin Pietersen also felt that Sehwag snatched the match away from the visitors. "A very, very bitter pill to swallow. But what an innings Sehwag played and later a magician in Tendulkar and Yuvraj finished it off. We thought we had a chance to win the match today but unfortunately it did not happen," he said.

Pietersen said his side would take the positives from the match and come back hard in the second Test at Mohali.

"We didn't come here to lose. But there are lots of positives to take from this match for us. To start Test cricket two weeks after what happened in Mumbai is terrific.

"The boys returned from a tough situation but a fantastic performance in the match. We are looking forward for the second Test. We will come back hard at Mohali." Meanwhile, the BCCI announced a sum of Rs 3 crore to be given to the servicesmen, who died or got injured in the Mumbai terror attacks.

Rs 2 crore would be distributed to those servicemen who died in the tragedy while Rs 1 crore has been earmarked for the servicemen injured.