Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni tonight did not sound convincing as he desperately tried to defend Yuvraj Singh whose painstaking 21-ball 11 put paid to India's hopes of a historic treble.
India's quest ended in heartbreak as a gutsy Sri Lanka produced a clinical display to win their maiden ICC World T20 trophy with a convincing six-wicket victory here.
"It was an off day for Yuvraj. He tried his best but it's not easy to come in and start slogging from ball one," Dhoni said at the post-match press conference though his statement lacked conviction.
There were a few questions on Yuvraj which he completely deflected during his shortest media interaction in the whole tournament.
Was there a message for Yuvraj when he got stuck in the middle and Dhoni said, "No he was just trying his best. That's the most you can do."
Dhoni was specifically asked about Yuvraj's future in this current set-up considering others have more or less performed their duties or at least have age on their side.
The smiling skipper gave an open-ended reply.
"Indian cricket season is over, and now we have all domestic tournaments including the Indian Premier League. The next selection is far away so let's not talk about it."
There had been angry reactions from the fans and he got a bit serious while answering a query.
"Look, you need to understand that fans can be angry but they can't be more disappointed than the individual who is out there in the middle. As a player you don't want to do badly in front of 40000 people. You don't want to drop catches. But off-days happen. And it can happen with any athlete. May be it was an off-day for him (Yuvraj).
"Fans will be disappointed but it is the player who is always more disappointed than the fans," he explained.
When someone asked if Yuvraj's innings "robbed the team" of momentum, Dhoni seemed like wanting to put an end to the endless queries.
"It's a team thing. So let us not talk about individuals.
