Dhoni happy <i>sans</i> biggies

More than breaking a long-standing jinx, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is happy with the fact that he led the side to a historic ODI series win in Sri Lanka in the absence of star players Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
Talking to reporters after his side lost the inconsequential fifth ODI against Sri Lanka last night, Dhoni said the team did miss a few players but the youngsters responded well to fill in the vacuum.
"It is not about depending or not depending (on a few players). Of course it is an achievement but you can not just sit back on it and say we won the Twenty20 (World Cup), the tri-series in Australia or now here in Sri Lanka. You have to continue doing it," said Dhoni, insisting winning should be a habit for the side.
"If you have players like Sachin and Sehwag, it really helps in doing and achieving these things consistently. But it (their absence) is not really in control, because at times you will have injuries.
"We didn't have Ishant (Sharma), we didn't have Sachin and Veeru (Sehwag) who was in prime form. But it is upto other individuals to take up the responsibility, because there is no point in sitting and sulking about guys who are not there.
"They are the guys who are part of the 16 who can really make a difference and they were doing just that," Dhoni said, before adding "But of course you miss individuals, specially the great players." Looking back, Dhoni said India negated the threat from Sri Lanka's two-pronged spin attack and played well in the 20-40 over stretch to win the series 3-2.