'Dhoni is negative. He doesn't have too many ideas'

'When you are doing well you need to keep addressing the weaknesses. This is something that the Indian team has never done,' former Test spinner Maninder Singh tells Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com

As Team India launches its one day campaign in England on Monday, August 25, it will hopefully work hard to erase its 1-3 loss to England in the Test series.

The defeat in consecutive Tests, coming as it did on the victory in the second Test at Lord's, mystifies observers, unable to explain why the Indian team lost its momentum and, more important, its will to win.

"Immediately after winning the second Test at Lord's we shifted back to the six batsmen, four-bowler theory," explains former India left-arm spinner Maninder Singh, adding, "the idea was to draw the next three Tests and win a series in England."

"It is negative thinking. This is only due to lack of self-belief," Maninder, who took 88 wickets in his 35-Test career, feels.

"England looked more positive than they actually were simply because the Indians were so negative," he said.

"This is one of the worst English teams ever. When you are doing well you need to keep addressing the weaknesses. This is something that the Indian team has never done. If we lose to this team in such a way, I am afraid what will happen in Australia."

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"Not just in this (series), but in every series, the option of a draw has always been a nightmare for M S (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni," Maninder felt

"When it comes to Test cricket, Dhoni is negative. He doesn't have too many ideas."

"We Indians tend to get satisfied very easily," Maninder argued, "not just the cricketers, but also cricket lovers. They are happy with any scoreline as long as we are winning."

"Cricketers know the pulse of cricket-lovers in this country and focus only on winning, not the scoreline. So it's okay for them to win a three-Test series 1-0, rather than going for a more respectable scoreline."

Maninder also slammed the coaching team and management for doing little to change things.

"The foreign coaches were hired to change this negative thinking. But they too realise that if you are with the Indian team, then you have to think like an Indian to survive," he said.

"They fear if they give too many suggestions or inputs, their contracts will be cancelled. The negative approach eventually boils down to the team management. If your coach (Duncan Fletcher) is given confidence despite doing so badly series after series, then how will you improve?" Maninder asked.