It has been said that MS Dhoni is setting benchmarks for captains as far as taking successful Decision Review Systems (DRS) are concerned. Dhoni has a knack of identifying the perfect opportunity to use the DRS judiciously. The whole world another example of MSD brilliance on the field as he helped Virat Kohli-led India take two successful DRS decisions and turn the 4th ODI at Colombo in their favour right from the beginning of the second innings. People say that DRS should be renamed to ‘Dhoni Review System’ and they say that for a reason.
Dhoni’s first prey was Niroshan Dickwella who was hitting the ball well right from the second over targeting Jasprit Bumrah. Dickwella was presented with a short ball from debutant Shardul Thakur. It was on the leg side, Dickwella tried to play that fine and concede a boundary. But the ball brushed his glove on the way to Dhoni’s gloves. Dhoni, Thakur and the fielder went up straight away but the Umpire remained unconvinced.
Dhoni asked for a review straight away saying ‘awaaz aaya hai’. He was right in saying that as Kohli reviewed it and the snick-o-meter showed that the ball has brushed the gloves on it’s way. The decision was reversed and Dickwella was given out. The opener was looking dangerous in the little cameo he played.
A similar incident happened in the 8th over as Jasprit Bumrah bowled a bouncer towards the leg side to Dilshan Munaweera. Once again the bowl brushed the glove and everyone appealed for caught behind. Dhoni once again asked for a review, this time around it was too close.
The review showed there was a deft touch off the glove of Munaweera and once again the decision was reversed and Bumrah got another wicket. Sri Lanka never really recovered from the early blows and lost to India by a record 168 runs. It is also their biggest loss at home according to the number of runs they have lost the match by.
