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Dhoni shoulders blame for collapse

Skipper says his wicket was turning point after elevating himself to No.4 then failing in midst of collapse of 9-46 in 12 overs

India captain MS Dhoni has taken responsibility for his side's defeat in the fourth Victoria Bitter One-Day International against Australia, and said his wicket was the turning point of the match.

The visitors appeared to be cruising towards their target of 349 at Manuka Oval, boosted by a 212-run partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli that was finally broken by John Hastings in the 38th over.

With Ajinkya Rahane suffering from a hand injury, Dhoni elevated himself to No.4 in the order but fell just three balls after Dhawan's dismissal to give Australia what still seemed like an outside chance of victory.

But Dhoni's wicket ended up being the second in a stunning collapse of 9-46 in less than an hour that saw India fall from 1-277 to be all out for 323 and lose by 25 runs.

WATCH: Replay India's amazing batting collapse

The skipper refused to put the blame on his younger players, saying it was his job to finish the match after Dhawan and Kohli had put India in control.

"That's what my role is in the team; in that kind of position to make sure that we finish off the game well," Dhoni said.

"So I would say that my wicket was the real turning point. We lost quite a few there but I think it was my wicket (that turned the match).

"That's what pressure does to you.

"A few of (the other batsmen) haven't played a lot of international cricket so at times it seems when you're batting in the middle that playing that big shot is the right thing to do.

"But slowly and with more games under your belt you realise you have to carry on some kind of a partnership and once you get used to the wicket then you can play the big shot.

"Hopefully they'll learn out of this.

"This is the first few games they have played and it's maybe the first time in their careers that they were under that kind of pressure. So hopefully they're learning."

For the fourth time in as many games, Dhoni fronted the media after his side had posted a score between 295 and 323 but still lost the match.

Despite Australia holding a 4-0 series lead, the Indian skipper was once again able to find the positives from the match.

WATCH: MS Dhoni accepts blame for collapse in press conference

And he dismissed the suggestion that this loss would be harder to take than the previous three, adding the form of his top order gives the side confidence ahead of the upcoming T20 series.

"It depends on how you want to take it," he said.

"After the first three losses people were also saying that it would be difficult to come back, but I think we batted really well today.

"It also gives a glimpse of what you might see in the T20s – a lot of flamboyant cricket.

"We lost, are we disappointed? Definitely we're disappointed. But you want to take the positives.

"If we had batted better than what we did after the 38th over, this game could have been over in the 46th or 47th over.

WATCH: Kolhi claims ODI ton No.25

"So you look at it that way. You don't want to sink into something negative.

"You always want to get a lot of positives and I think there were a lot of positives, especially in the batting department.

"Rohit (Sharma) gave the opening partnership a good push and the next partnership between Virat and Shikhar was outstanding."

The centuries to Kohli and Dhawan tonight are the fourth and fifth individual centuries scored by India's batsmen in this series, none of which have come in victories.

In all, India have scored 1,235 runs from four matches but are yet to register a win.

Tonight's result also extends India's losing run against Australia to 11 matches across all formats, a streak that goes back to March 2014.

WATCH: Dhawan ton pummels Aussie early