Kumble would have ensured shorter match: Dhoni

After the eight-wicket win over South Africa in the third Test, India’s stand-in skipper for the game MS Dhoni said that the Proteas were perhaps lucky not to have faced Anil Kumble on the crumbling pitch at the Green Park stadium here.

"I think if Anil had played, the match would not have even lasted three days. It is not easy to replace a man like him. But all credit to the bowlers; even without him they bowled exceptionally well. And even in the dressing room the atmosphere was always cool," said Dhoni who registered the series-levelling win in his first match as the Test captain.

On the experience of leading the side in the longer version of the game, Dhoni said: "In Tests, you get time to think. I was lucky in the sense that I got a pitch like this in my first game as skipper. It was easier here compared to captaining the side on a flat track. There it is much difficult to get breakthroughs."

But Dhoni did not agree that the three-day win after the drubbing in as many days they had suffered in the last Test in Ahmedabad was revenge on the visitors.

"You just want to enjoy the win. You don’t take it as revenge. In cricket, you win some, you lose some," said Dhoni.

The wicketkeeper-batsman gave full credit to his team for putting up a stellar performance.

"Everybody did their job. We batted really well in the first innings. That was crucial because what actually makes a difference in the end is what you did in the first innings. On a difficult pitch we batted positively.

"Sourav (Ganguly) was brilliant and in the end the last wicket partnership was decisive because that was a morale-breaker partnership for South Africa," he said.

So, how much credit should be given to the bowlers and how much to the disintegrating pitch?

"The pitch was obviously turning square and the bounce was also uneven. But even then you have to bowl in the right areas and we did that," said Dhoni.

Dhoni disagreed with the fact this kind of a pitch was unfair for South Africa who it seemed had the series firmly in their grasp.

"Everywhere you go, the pitch does something; in Australia it bounces, in England it swings, in New Zealand there is seam movement, so in India there is spin and uneven bounce. These wickets are definitely better than the dead tracks, which produce no result," said Dhoni.