New Delhi: India were handed their first defeat in the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup as the side lost to England by 31 runs on Sunday at Edgbaston.
MS Dhoni who has come under scrutiny for his slow tempo in India's matches once again became the talk of the town as the wicket-keeper batsman was seen playing in his own pace. The batsman managed to score 42 runs from 31 balls, but he was clearly seen not looking for boundaries in the final overs.
Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav managed to score only 40 runs after coming on the crease. They managed to hit only 3 fours and a six in the last 5 overs when the required run rate went over 14 per over. Jadhav scored 12 off 13 balls. This approach by the former captain as well as Jadhav is being widely scrutinised on Twitter.
"If there was any team that had the ability to stop India's winning run, it was England. Dhoni's approach in the last few overs, however, was baffling," former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted.
"Dhoni fans after watching no intent from him to win the match #INDvENG," one Twitter user wrote.
"Dhoni please come back to Test cricket and retire from ODI, We badly need you in Test #INDvENG," another Twitter user wrote.
"Indians watching Dhoni play last 5 overs," one Twitter user wrote.
"Nasir Hussain: "I don't understand what Dhoni is doing? At least give it a go! Now the fans are leaving, Sourav Ganguly: "I have no explanation for this" #Dhoni," another fan tweeted.
"When Dhoni tries to hit in last over after going for singles earlier #indiavsEngland#INDvENG," another Twitter user wrote.
Dhoni was criticised over the past few days over his slow strike-rate during the middle overs period. He came under severe criticism over his slow innings during the Afghanistan match too. In the match against West Indies, Dhoni took his time, but he was able to silence his critics by smashing 16 runs in the final over of the innings.
Rohit Sharma defended Dhoni and Jadhav for their baffling approach in the death overs.
"When you lose matches, there will be questions that why we lost the game? We lost Rahul pretty early, England bowled really well in the first ten overs. It was important that guy who's in form goes on to convert his start. We knew the longer we bat, we will have more chances of winning the match. The pitch got really slow at the end and English bowlers bowled really well in the death overs," Sharma said.
"We could have accelerated and got closer to their total. When Pant and Pandya were in there we thought we had a decent chance. But England were better on the day. Kohli said during the post match conference.
India will next face Bangladesh on July 2.
