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.
“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.
“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.
