 Malik watched on as Dhoni and co cantered to victory in Gwalior |
India skipper Mahendra Dhoni praised his players' teamwork after they won the fourth one-dayer against Pakistan on Thursday to clinch the series. India won by six wickets, making 260-4 in reply to 255-6, to take an unassailable 3-1 lead with a game left.
Batsman Sachin Tendulkar stroked 97 to set up the win in Gwalior.
Dhoni said: "The bowlers could not do well in the end and the batsmen took responsibility. This is what we have been doing throughout this series."
Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik was left to reflect on a first one-day series defeat on Indian soil for his country since 1983.
They were in contention after posting a decent score and taking two early Indian wickets, but Tendulkar took the game away from them.
"Our batsmen did well, especially Mohammad Yousuf [99] and Younus Khan [68] but we were not good with the new ball," Malik said.
"I think 255 was defendable but we gave too many runs away early on and that made the difference.
"We are professionals. It hurts but we have to live with this. We have one more one-day game and an important Test series which we're looking forward to."
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