India captain Virat Kohli said it was wrong for pundits to “pounce” on India wicketkeeper M.S. Dhoni and “jump to conclusions” following the former skipper’s bizarre innings in the second one-day international against England at Lord’s on Saturday.
The tourists were 140-4, needing a further 183 runs in 23 overs to reach their target of 323, when Dhoni walked out to bat at the home of cricket.
It was a situation that cried out for some belligerent batting from the often aggressive Dhoni, one of the best finishers of a white-ball innings in the modern game.
Photo: AP
Yet instead, Dhoni made a sedate 37 off 59 deliveries with just two fours.
When he eventually holed out off Liam Plunkett with a rare lofted shot, India were effectively beaten at 215-8 with just under four overs remaining.
India were bowled out for 236 off the last ball of the match as England won by 86 runs to level the three-match series at 1-1 ahead of tomorrow’s finale at Headingley.
Kohli defended the 37-year-old Dhoni, a veteran of 320 ODIs who effectively won the 2011 Cricket World Cup final for India against Sri Lanka in Mumbai off his own bat, saying: “This comes up again and again when he is not able to play in the normal way he does. It’s very unfortunate people just jump to conclusions very quickly.”
“When he does well, people call him the best finisher ever and when they don’t go well, they all pounce on him,” Kohli said. “We all have bad days in cricket and today was a bad one for everyone, not just him. Also, you want to take the innings deep; you don’t want to just lose by 160-170 runs, and he has the experience, but some days it just doesn’t come off. Other people jump to conclusions, but we don’t — we totally believe in him.”
Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, cricket authorities announced the indefinite postponement of the country’s Twenty20 league scheduled for next month and said revised dates will be decided by a new board.
The Lankan Premier League (LPL) was due to start on Aug. 18, but an interim management body appointed last month delayed the tournament, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement.
“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to inform that the LPL (T20) has been postponed indefinitely, until an elected body is constituted at the SLC,” the statement said.
In late May, Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal suspended elections for the cricket board.
Sri Lankan Minister of Sports Faiszer Musthapha appointed a competent authority to run the board until elections are held within six months.
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