MS Dhoni took his time to get going before exploding in the final over to take India to 268/7 against West Indies in a World Cup encounter in Manchester on Thursday.
There has been a lot of talk about Dhoni’s difficulties with rotating the strike and Thursday’s batting effort on another dry and slow track kept the debate alive on social media, even as the former captain got 16 in the final over to finish on 56 off 61 deliveries with three fours and two sixes.
More than his strike-rate, his percentage of dot balls remains a concern for India. If India played 152 dot balls against Afghanistan, the run-less delivery count was 163 in this game. India did end up winning the match comfortably, however, outplaying West Indies by 125 runs.
India vs West Indies: as it happened here.
It was Pandya, whose 46 off 38 balls took India past 250-run mark after skipper Virat Kohli (72 off 82 balls) scored his fourth half-century.
The middle-order looked jittery again with skipper Kohli not getting enough support from the other batsmen and in the process missing out on a fourth chance to get a hundred in the tournament.
In fact Dhoni’s rustiness rubbed off a bit on the Indian captain, who ultimately threw his wicket away to his opposite number. Kohli hit eight boundaries with the stand-out shot being a lofted drive over covers off Oshane Thomas.
Veteran Kemar Roach (3/36) bowled fast and fuller length deliveries using the off-cutters to good effect while skipper Jason Holder (2/33 in 10 overs) was economical, troubling the batsmen with back of the length deliveries.
Left-arm spinner Fabian Allen (0/52 in 10 overs) didn’t get any wicket but a crucial aspect of his spell was the last five overs in which he gave away only 15 runs. This was another left-arm spinner after Mitchell Santner and Shakib Al Hasan, who has now troubled Dhoni with his wicket-to-wicket bowling. Allen was unfortunate not to dismiss Dhoni as ‘keeper Shai Hope made a mess of a stumping opportunity when the former India captain was on eight.
The 37-year-old, after the match, got the backing of his captain, with Kohli firmly standing behind his predecessor in the post-match chat.
“Dhoni knows exactly what he wants to do in the middle. When he has an off day here and there, everyone starts talking. We always back him. He has won us so many games,” the player of the match told Sanjay manjrekar.
“The best thing about having someone like him is when you need those 15-20 runs, he knows exactly how to get them. His experience, eight out of 10 times has come good for us,” he added.
The 30-year-old said the former captain was a legend of the game and hoped he continued in the same vein.
“We have quite a few players who play instinctive cricket and follow their game plans. He’s such a keen understanding of the game. Always sends us feedback, that you know 260 is a good score. He’s a legend of the game. We all know that. Just hope he can continue,” he said.
While this innings was nowhere as scratchy as the one against Afghanistan, eventually finishing with a 90-plus strike rate, there were questions raised (and answers given) on Twitter about Dhoni’s stay in the middle.
Here are some tweets:
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