Bumrah defends MS Dhoni for refusing singles: The Indian fast bowler believed that the veteran cricketer wanted to take the game deep.
During the first T20I of the ongoing Australia’s tour of India at Visakhapatnam, former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni was severely criticized after he ended up scoring 29 off 37 balls as India managed a paltry 126-7 in 20 overs.
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Coming in to bat at No. 5 in the 11th over, Dhoni was at the helm of things when India didn’t score a boundary for nearly 10 overs. While the fans were anticipating him to use the long handle in the slog overs, it was not until the last over when Dhoni hit a six off Australia fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile.
MS Dhoni’s strike rate of 78.37 is the second-lowest by an India batsman in a T20I innings of 35+ balls https://t.co/c04Gk6L3Kp#IndvAus
— ESPNcricinfo stats (@ESPNcric_stats) February 24, 2019
Lowest SR by an India batsman in a T20I inns of 35+ balls:
71.42 – Jadeja 25 (35) v Eng, 2009
78.37 – MS DHONI 29* (37) TODAY
84.44 – D Mongia 38 (45) v SA, 2006#IndvAus— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) February 24, 2019
“Dhoni was trying to take the game deep”
In an interaction with the media after the match, India fast bowler defended the senior player by saying that he was trying to take the game deep and take the team to a safe total.
“We were trying our best. He was just trying to take the game deep and trying to get us to a safe total. I think we were short by 15-20 runs but still, we had something that we could fight [with]. So I think that was the plan which he was trying to execute,” Bumrah was quoted as saying.
“The wicket was difficult to score”
Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell shared a similar opinion when asked about Dhoni’s innings. Claiming Dhoni’s ploy of farming the strike to be fair enough, Maxwell put in on the ‘difficult to score’ wicket.
#Dhoni should retire from T20 format…
— deepak (@deepak34335645) February 25, 2019
Really horrible to read the views of some cricket lovers, even of media too. in one day Dhoni becomes the best finisher in the world and suddenly the next day he becomes old, jaded, poor finisher etc. Even one tweet was- Dhoni helped other teams to win….
— Shailendra Kaushik (@Shailen23983336) February 25, 2019
Na bhai ye theek tha ki 100 pe out hote aus 15 over me match khtm kr deti
But dhoni ne 29 run kyu bana diya test khelke ye to jurm h 😭😂
India ko 126 pe pohochaya ye bhi bohot glt kiya dhoni ne uske bs ki kuch nhi h 😭— HBD SHIKHA 🎂 (@Shekhar_O7) February 25, 2019
“It [farming the strike] was probably fair enough. With the way the wicket was. being difficult to score for any batter, let alone a guy who is not known for his power-hitting in [Yuzvendra] Chahal. MS [Dhoni] is obviously a world-class finisher and even he was finding it hard to hit the middle of the bat.
“So, I think it was right of him to try and farm the strike. He hit a six in the last over and I think that’s the sign – he hit one six and they only got seven of the over. Shows you how difficult it is. If you hold MS to one boundary in the last few overs, it’s a pretty big effort,” Maxwell said.
