Former India captain MS Dhoni’s batting approach often becomes the talk of the town as certain section of cricket lovers admire his zeal to fight it out in the middle while a different group criticizes him for being too circumspect.
During the fourth match of the ongoing six-match ODI series against South Africa at Wanderers, Dhoni played a vital 42-run knock off 43 balls which propelled India to a highly competitive total of 289 for 7 in 50 overs. However, the fans like always had differences in opinion with regards to Dhoni’s innings.
While some blamed the Ranchi dazzler for not taking the score beyond 300, others appreciated the India wicketkeeper batsman for holding the one end amidst the middle order collapse. It is worth mentioning here that India lost the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane (8 off 15 balls), Shreyas Iyer (18 off 21 balls) and Hardik Pandya (9 off 13 balls) after a herculean 158-run stand for the second wicket between Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Virat Kohli.
Here are some of the tweets praising and criticizing Dhoni’s knock:
Indian middle order consists of:
— cricket freak (@cricloverakku) February 11, 2018
Blocker rahane
Blocker dhoni
Spin basher pandya
Untested and inexperienced iyer.
Probably the best rotator of strike is bhuvaneshwar kumar and not a single player who can be explosive and score quickly after the platform has been set.#SAvIND
India Couldn't Reach 300 Because Of MS Dhoni? If He Weren't There Holding The Other End, India Would've Got All Out Well Before 250. Get Some Cricketing Sense Before Asking For MS Dhoni's Retirement, You Dumb Haters. ????????????????#SAvIND #INDvsSA #INDvSA #SAvsIND #Dhoni
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) February 10, 2018
Say something about Dhoni's slow batting. @cricketaakash
— ABHAY THAKUR (@ABHAY281095) February 11, 2018
Rohit+Rahane+Iyer+Hardik 40(62)
— ???? (@WHISTLE_P0DU) February 10, 2018
Dhoni 42*(43)
How do you blame Dhoni alone when you don't like his fans giving him all the credit ? #PlasticFans pic.twitter.com/dRMpiOI0sm
Very well said. But everyone has to understand this. What happens is once someone blames Dhoni for playing slow when everyone knows that he has to price his wicket with the fragile middle order we have, it triggers that kind of debate. Need to stop that.????
— Amit Date (@amitdate95) February 11, 2018
Out of total 981 runs made by India in four ODIs so far Dhawan and Kohli combine have scored 664, Rohit Sharma 40, Rahane 98, Dhoni 56, Pandya 26..need we say more about our fragile middle order and heavy reliance on Kohli.
— BAL GOVIND (@BALGOVIND74) February 10, 2018
India didn’t experience the best of start in the fourth ODI as Rohit Sharma perished for only 5 to Kagiso Rabada. However, Dhawan was determined to make it count on this occasion. The southpaw struck his 13th ODI ton which led the foundation for a competitive total.
The rain-break during South Africa’s innings though meant that the revised target for the hosts is 202 in 28 overs. Owing to Heinrich Klaasen’s 27-ball 43 and David Miller’s 28-ball 29, South Africa sealed the deal with 15 balls to spare and 5 wickets in hand.