These are testing times for Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The team he leads was supposed to win the ongoing bilateral series against Australia comfortably, especially considering the fact that visitors are virtually a makeshift outfit -- with a plethora of injury worries and subsequent changes in team composition.
Instead, Dhoni and his men find themselves 2-3 down going into the sixth One-Day International at Guwahati.
India have been outplayed in successive matches, in Mohali and Hyderabad, and a defeat at the Nehru Stadium on Sunday will mean Australia take home the Hero Honda Cup.
It is never easy to explain a defeat.
In India, it is further tough, as the cricket-crazy public isn't interested in any of these explanations, but results.
However, to his credit, Dhoni does manage to put up a brave face when the going isn't so good. His explanations might not be very convincing, but, nonetheless, give his side of the story.
And on some occasions, they are honest admissions. His views on the defeat in Hyderabad being a case in point.
"In the last game we could have calculated a bit better," he admitted. "Especially with the batting Power Play left and four or five wickets in hand, more often than not you see the team batting second winning the game.
"I think we lost there a bit. We've done well in patches but we need to be more consistent, especially in our fielding. But I think it's a constant learning process and, hopefully, we won't repeat the same mistakes again."
But was he disappointed when Sachin Tendulkar got out at such a crucial time -- with India needing just 18 runs.
"There were no instructions [to Sachin]. At times you get out. When you are playing your shots there is a bit of risk involved and you can always get out," explained Dhoni, trying to defend his star player.
But the loss must have definitely hurt?
"It hurt, it was disappointing. But we left it at the dressing room, as we were aware that we still had two games and a chance to pocket the series," he said, adding "it will be a fresh start tomorrow and the mood is upbeat"
Team India has so far relied on individual performances vis-à-vis a team effort in the ongoing Hero Honda Cup. So if it was Dhoni himself at Nagpur, it was Yuvraj at Kotla and Sachin at Hyderabad who performed, the others were mostly pedestrian.
Isn't it a worrying factor?
"We always rely on a great start. When the openers don't score the pressure comes on the middle order," said Dhoni, before admitting, "And unfortunately for us our middle order hasn't performed consistently in this series."
Now that Team India has identified some of the problem areas, what is the strategy for the next two games?
"Our basic strategy is not to go to the field with a big score in mind, try to get off to a good start and carry on the consolidation work from then on," revealed Dhoni.
"If you get off to a good start and don't lose wickets in the first 10-15 overs, then you can keep changing the score every 10-15 overs and form a partnership. Then, with the second Power Play coming in, you can dictate terms to the opposition."
And finally what is being done to ensure the strategies are implemented?
"The seniors in the team are regularly in touch with the youngsters, telling them how they should react to situations like the one at Hyderabad," said Dhoni.
