I shouldn’t use too much brain in T20: Dhoni

Cuttack, October 6

Having slumped to an embarrassing T20 series defeat against South Africa, MS Dhoni said that "one bad performance per year" serves him a timely reminder that one should not use "too much brain" in shortest format. "On and off, we have seen performances like these in T20s. Every year, we at least have one performance where we are not up to the mark. Maybe this is the performance and we will play freely in the next games," said Dhoni after losing the second T20 international by six wickets.

Although spoken in a lighter vein, Dhoni did say that not playing freely and over-thinking can complicate matters in T20 cricket. "I personally feel that I used too much brain in this format. It's very important I keep myself free and go and play my strokes. In this format, I believe I should play the big shots from the word go irrespective of whatever the scenario is because that's what this format is all about," Dhoni spoke about the need to keep things simple.

Asked about batting higher up the order, Dhoni said: "A lot of time when I go in to bat, be it the 16th or the 17th over or in the fourth or fifth over when wickets have fallen, I have the tendency of like let's get to 130, that will be good score."

"One of the reasons why I want to bat up the order is that somebody else takes the responsibility of batting lower down the order, say No. 6, which is a very crucial position," said Dhoni.