While Social media is buzzing with majority of the fans and experts lashing out at MS Dhoni for another slow knock and lacking the intent to chase a target against England in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 match on June 30, Team India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar has backed the senior pro fully.
India’s chase of 338 was carried forward by Virat Kohli (66 off 76) and Rohit Sharma (102 off 109), but once they fell, the burden of the chase was on a relatively unexposed middle-order.
Rishabh Pant – coming into the game for the injured Vijay Shankar – and Hardik Pandya were up for the task, as they added 28 runs in 18 balls up until Rishabh’s dismissal in the 40th over. Pandya and MS Dhoni then could only manage 41 off the next 34 balls before the former perished.
When Kedar Jadhav joined Dhoni in the middle, India needed 71 off the last 31 balls – the sort of equation that gets polished off in T20 tournaments like the IPL. But the new batting pair however, just couldn’t get going against England’s smart death bowling that involved a lot of variations – cross-seam deliveries, cutters and slow bouncers – to take advantage of the pitch that slowed down since the first innings.
“I don’t think so [there was a lack of intent], because if you look at the way they bowled towards the end, they used the dimensions really well and created difficult angles for our batters to hit. In those large boundaries and with the type of balls they were bowling – slower bouncers, a lot of into the wicket deliveries, slower balls, I just felt maybe last one or two overs, the difference between runs required and balls left were a bit too much. Had we tried bigger shots earlier, we might have ended a few runs short. It also helps the Net Run Rate a bit with the extra runs,” Bangar said.
About Dhoni’s approach at the death, Bangar pointed out that the former captain has had a satisfactory World Cup thus far and that the team management is content with his show of intent.
“Except for one odd innings, Dhoni has done the role always. Five out of seven games he has done the job for the team. If you see the earlier games, against South Africa he stitched together a partnership of 70 with Rohit. After that what was required of him against Australia he did that.” Bangar said.
Following their first defeat of the World Cup, India have a short turn around time as they go up against Bangladesh in the same venue – Edgbaston – on Tuesday (July 2), with a win sealing their passage to the knockouts.
