London: MS Dhoni ended on the losing side for the first time in a Test series as captain of India but says the team did what best it could in the 4-0 whitewash completed by England at the Oval on Sunday.
India suffered their second innings defeat in the series, going down by an innings and eight runs in the fourth Test, and Dhoni admitted that England batted them out of the series.
"We tried our best and that's what is important," said Dhoni. "They batted really well and we were not able to get more than 300 in a single innings, that speaks for itself."
On being quizzed if India was complacent coming into the series, Dhoni lamented the fact that the team didn't get much time to prepare.
"There was no complacency but we didn't get much time before the series started," said the Indian skipper, who once again failed with the bat on the last day of the series.
But Dhoni said it's important to stay together as a team when things are not working in your favour.
"It's important to stay together as a unit. The expectation levels are always high from supporters back home but the team has to stay together and fight," he said.
England skipper Andrew Strauss termed the series win as "outstanding".
"Outstanding again," said a beaming Andrew Strauss.
"It was Graeme Swann's day but when you look at the start of the game, Ian Bell's innings was the best I've seen him play," said Strauss after Swann took six wickets to dismiss India for 283 in their second innings on Monday. Ian Bell, who scored a double hundred in the match, was named the 'Man of the Match'.
Strauss said that his team was ready to work hard for a 4-0 scoreline and knew that they had time on their side to take the remaining Indian wickets on the last day.
"We knew it was going to be hard work today but we knew we had a lot of time," said the skipper of new No. 1 team in Test cricket
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