CWC 2019: "MS Dhoni gives India opportunities to win," says Steve Waugh

Steve Waugh says MS Dhoni has been a genius in one-day cricket, and can still take his team to victory.

Martin Guptill got a direct hit to dismiss MS Dhoni | Getty Images

India ended their World Cup 2019 campaign with a narrow defeat to the Kiwis in the first semi-final. MS Dhoni was India’s last hope in the run-chase like he has been for a number of years now. However, due to his failures lately, he has been criticized for playing unnecessarily slow, especially at the start. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh has come to his defense calling him a genius.

Waugh was quoted by The Week saying, “Look, the guy has been a genius in one-day cricket. Again, the other day, until the run-out, he may have won the game again. You have to remember if he wasn’t such a good player, you wouldn’t be doubting what’s he doing.

Till he is there, he gives you opportunities (to win). The amount of time he has got India across the line has been amazing. Sure he’s bit slow, but I’ll still trust him with what he is doing,” he added.

He also talked about the reason behind India’s exit in the World Cup and how it was not that surprising for him.

He said, “I think it was a big surprise for you guys than for me! Did he make any tactical errors—no. New Zealand played really well. Jimmy Neesham’s brilliant catch and Guptill’s run-out—World Cup matches are sometimes won on fielding expertise.

Credit should be given to Williamson and Taylor. They got a lot of criticism for batting too slowly, but they summed up the conditions really well. To win the World Cup, you have got to be really street-smart and that’s what they did. They could have gone hard early the way Australia and India did and lost early wickets, but New Zealand had a game plan that gave them a chance to win, so I think (it was) not so much negative for Kohli but positive for New Zealand,” he added.

Steve Waugh also was asked about Australia's exit in the semi-final, to which he said he was surprised by the margin of defeat for the defending champions.

It’s called cricket, mate. Someone’s going to win, someone’s going to lose. England were too good. Someone’s got to put up their hand and say, “opposition was too good.” And it’s surprising. The first semifinal was a surprise. And in the second, the margin of victory was also surprising.

(Source: Indian Express)

 
 

By Sameer Deodhar - 13 Jul, 2019

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