London: MS Dhoni’s batting order against New Zealand has evoked a huge debate across all of India and even outside the country. Experts and others have criticised the decision of the Indian management to send MS Dhoni bat at No.7 after of Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya. They have said that Dhoni should have come in at No.4 and had he done so, he could have turned India’s fortunes around.
India’s head coach Ravi Shastri, however, has stood firm regarding the decision to send Dhoni in at No. 7. Shastri has backed the decision by stating that had Dhoni gone in ‘earlier, the game would have been over earlier’.
“The ball was swinging prodigiously. It would have been wrong to send MS Dhoni at No.4,” Ravi Shastri has been quoted as saying by a section of the vernacular media in Kolkata. “Had he been dismissed early, the game wouldn’t have gone to where it finally went. Who knows it could have been over by the 30th-35th over.”
Ravi Shastri also went on to say that MS Dhoni had played a very calculated innings in the semifinals. For him the turning point of the game was Dhoni’s run out which was construed by Martin Guptill’s fantastic throw.
“Look Dhoni had everything set. There were 10 deliveries to go when he was dismissed. Out of those four were to be bowled by Lockie Ferguson and the other six by New Zealand’s fifth bowler. I am sure Dhoni would have certainly hit two of the 10 for sixes and the rest would have been easy. Guptill’s miraculous throw changed all that,” Shastri has stated.
“Actually at times you need a little bit of luck. Sadly we did not get it when we batted,” added the Indian head coach.
Ravi Shastri has gone on to add that MS Dhoni has fulfilled whatever expectations the team had from him during the 2019 World Cup. “Look, you have to remember, that he is not the same Dhoni he was 10 years ago. So we gave him a role to play and he has done it to the hilt,” Shastri has been quoted as saying.
PNN & Agencies