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Yet again, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had to save of under attack ex captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, whose painstaking 37 off 59 balls encountered sharp disapproval after England leveled the ODI series by crushing India by 86 runs at the Lord’s cricket ground.
Called as one of the most excellent ever finishers in restricted overs, MSD in the past couple of years have resisted to end a lot of aggressive games unless there has been top-order backing from the other side.
India was following a competitive goal of 323, which that decelerated and for once the top order failed, putting loads of responsibility on MSD. But MSD got unsuccessful to power the speed with the team managing just 236 in 50 overs.
When ex England captain Nasser Hussain bobbed up the query regarding Dhoni’s approach, Virat got irritated.
“This thing comes up again and again when he’s not able to play the way he does,” Kohli stated at the post-match presentation ceremonial.
“It’s unfortunate that people jump to conclusions quickly. When he does well, people call him the best finisher ever, and when things do not go well, people pounce on him,” the Indian skipper seemed little aggravated with knee jerk responses from admirers and reviewers alike.
As he has done several times, Virat protected MSD.
“The idea was to take the innings deep. He has the experience but sometimes it doesn’t come off. We totally believe in him and the ability of all the players,” the skipper said.
When Kohli was asked whether the squad missed Jasprit Bumrah or Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the last overs, the skipper answered, “These are games where you test the character of the guys, obviously Bumrah and Bhuvi have done it for long but it’s nice to test the character of the guys. Crucial to back the guys ahead.”
He added, “Those three wickets early on played a massive part. But both Moeen and Rashid sensed the opportunity, they are good bowlers and created pressure. If we hadn’t lost early wickets, we might have been able to attack them more.”
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