Bengaluru : India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has his detractors but he can surely keep his nerve in crunch situations. He did just that in Wednesday’s World Twenty20 cliff-hanger against Bangladesh.
Chasing a modest 146, India looked down and out for the better part of the match. With Bangladesh needing just two runs to hurt the T20 champion’s self-esteem, Dhoni pulled a rabbit out of the hat by heeding the advice of speedster Ashish Nehra who had exhausted his quota but was eager to extricate the team from a sticky corner.
Dhoni did some quick mental maths before asking Hardik Pandya to bowl a back-of-the-length delivery: He had calculated how much time non-striker Mustafizur Rahman might take to complete a single to level the scores.
‘‘We did not want to bowl a yorker, it had to be a back-of-the-length delivery. But how much back-of-the-length: That was the question,” the Indian captain explained later to press persons, reports wire agency Reuters.
‘‘We did not want to bowl a wide because by the time it would have travelled to the keeper, the batsman would have an opportunity to take one more run. Therefore, I think his (Pandya’s) execution of the last delivery was fantastic.”
With Pandya at the top of his mark, Dhoni resumed his place behind the stumps and removed his right glove to throw should there be a bye. Pandya bowled a wide back-of-length delivery that beat Shuvagata Hom’s bat and reached Dhoni who sprinted more like a gazelle than a 34-year-old at the twilight of his career and, ball in palm, thrust his fist into the stumps to run out Mustafizur.
Soon after guiding India to the nerve-wracking victory, a visibly exasperated Dhoni lashed out at a scribe after being asked if he was content with the one-run win. Dhoni walked into the press conference smiling, but it soon dissipated at the very first question, which not only took the India skipper by surprise but also had him livid.
Dhoni was asked how satisfied was he with the result, keeping in mind that India needed to win it big to improve their net run rate for brightening the semifinal prospects. Rubbed the wrong way, Dhoni said, “I know you aren’t happy that India won today.”
As the reporter tried to clarify, Dhoni cut him short and added firmly, “Listen to me. Hearing you, your tone and your question, it’s clear that you aren’t happy that India has won. And when talking about a cricket match, there’s no script. It’s not about the script.”
Giving him his piece of his mind, Dhoni further said, “You have to analyse that after losing the toss, what was the reason that we couldn’t make many runs on that wicket. If you aren’t analysing these things sitting outside, then you shouldn’t ask this question.” A long pause followed at the press conference hall, before the mike was passed on for the next question– . Online input and PTI
