India captain Dhoni under fire for tactics in Twenty20

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni faced calls to quit after his team's exit from the World Twenty20, with pundits lining up to condemn his tactics as well as the misfiring top order.

"Every captain's term has a shelf life and after five years at the helm, Dhoni's seems to have come to an end," said the Mail Today in a blistering review of his "mind-boggling decision-making" during Tuesday's game with South Africa.

"The entire match was littered with his mistakes," it added.

Although India scraped a one-run victory over the Proteas, they fell well short of the run rate required to reach the semi-finals.

Much of the criticism levelled at the captain revolved around the dropping of spinner Harbhajan Singh, who had been the team's most economical bowler.

The Times of India accused him of committing "a major captaincy gaffe" by dropping a player who finished with figures of four for 12 when India crushed England in the opening round.

"Dhoni will have much answering to do about why he didn't play veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on a wicket on which Pakistan played four spinners against Australia with much success," the paper said. "The Proteas are as bad players of spin as anybody in the world."