Birmingham: Ecstatic about India's win against England in the ICC Champions Trophy final, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that his team handled the pressure in the thrilling encounter in a better manner.

“I think our boys handled the pressure really well. In international cricket, people talk about technique, but for me it's the ones who deal with the pressure what makes them a great player," said Dhoni, adding that in the kind of situation they were in, he just wanted his team to get close to 130.
 

"When we were batting I just said get close to 130. we managed to get that. I think the shower also helped us because the ball was gripping later on. It's important to be positive. I said 'we are the No. 1-ranked team, let's play like that'. I knew the two-overs of Powerplay were crucial. I wanted to make them slog off the spinners,” said the Indian skipper.

Meanwhile, Man of the Match Ravindra Jadeja could not hide his emotions. "I did well throughout the tournament and I was very positive. Today, it was quite difficult to rotate the strike. So me and Virat just tried to build a good partnership. Later, I was enjoying the bowling on this wicket. The skipper always backs me whenever I bowl, and that has helped me a lot," said Jadeja, who also won the golden ball for the bowler with most wickets in the tournament.

Meanwhile Shikhar Dhawan, who won the golden bat for his stupendous performance, said, "I had always dreamt of this. I'm really happy with it. The bouncy tracks suit my game. I worked hard in practice and in the warm-up games. It makes it more special because I was out of the side for a few years." He later, dedicated the award to the people who lost their previous lives in the flood fury back in Uttrakhand in India.

A disappointed Alastair Cook said that it was tough to take the defeat at the moment. “I would nevertheless thank the groundstaff to get us a game. We've come up a little short. I thought we bowled well to restrict India to 129. It's tough to take at the moment. I think both sides found the pitch quite hard to bat on. You are always going to think of different reasons. I'm proud of the way the players have performed in this tournament. With 20-odd needed off 16 balls it was in our hands. There have been a lot of good performances, but at the moment we are a bit devastated,” said Cook.