Birmingham: Veteran India cricketer MS Dhoni has drawn flak from formers cricketers for not showing 'intent' to win India the match against England while chasing 338 runs target here at Edgbaston on Sunday.
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Dhoni finished his innings unbeaten on 42 off 31 balls as England won the match by 31-run. When the right-handed batsman came to the crease, the asking rate was almost 11 but it quickly went up to 15 as he concentrated on singles.
Dhoni hit four boundaries later in the innings before hitting India's only six in the penultimate over but it was too late as Virat Kohli's side suffered their first defeat in the 2019 World Cup.
"I am completely baffled. What’s going on! This is not what India needed. They need runs. What are they doing? Some Indian fans are leaving now. Surely they must want to see Dhoni go for his shots, even if he slogs it off in the air. It's a World Cup game, top 2 sides, give it a go! Indian fans would want their side to do a little bit more. They want their side to go down with a fight. Risk it to win it," said former England captain Nasser Hussain during the last 10 overs of India's chase.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly too seemed surprised by India's approach and said that having 5 wickets in hand and still ending up playing dots was strange.
"I don't have an explanation for that. You asked me the question but I can't explain these singles. It's also the length and the bounce that has deceived the Indian batsmen. You can't be chasing 338 and still have 5 wickets in the end. It's about mindset and the way you look at the game. The message had to be clear: no matter where it comes and no matter where the ball lands you have to find the boundary. A dot ball at this stage!," said Ganguly.
Meanwhile, Pakistan greats were also seen fuming as their hope of progressing to the semi-final suffered a significant blow, with England now guaranteed to reach the semi-finals at their expense if they beat New Zealand on Wednesday.
While former Pakistan cricketer Waqar Younis took a sly dig at India's sportsmanship, Shoaib Akhtar said, "India had the potential of playing much better."
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It's not who you are.. What you do in life defines who you are.. Me not bothered if Pakistan gets to the semis or not but one thing is for sure.. Sportsmanship of few Champions got tested and they failed badly #INDvsEND #CWC2019
— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) June 30, 2019 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">It's not who you are.. What you do in life defines who you are.. Me not bothered if Pakistan gets to the semis or not but one thing is for sure.. Sportsmanship of few Champions got tested and they failed badly #INDvsEND #CWC2019
— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) June 30, 2019It's not who you are.. What you do in life defines who you are.. Me not bothered if Pakistan gets to the semis or not but one thing is for sure.. Sportsmanship of few Champions got tested and they failed badly #INDvsEND #CWC2019
— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) June 30, 2019
Former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum also slammed Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav for their questionable approach to the chase.
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"It was bizarre. These guys have finished games so many times before and from harder positions. They didn’t really play a shot towards the end. Credit to England, they bowled well and held their nerve. But it was bizarre and an anti-climax," McCullum said.
Former India spinner Murali Karthik said, "At least go down fighting. It was not case of nurdling it around and getting a not out. You have to try and hit balls rather than nurdle. I’m not saying they would have won and you can’t blame them for the loss, but at least go down fighting."
