“Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been a pillar of Team India and he’ll continue to be.” This is how the former Indian captain was praised by the stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma after he played a phenomenal 65-run inning against Sri Lanka under pressure. The Indian top order collapsed like a house of cards and set the lowest ever power-play score of the team. MS Dhoni stepped into the field to bat at number 6 and was the last man to get out.
Meanwhile, he batted alongside the tailenders. Probably it was an instruction given to them to defend the ball whenever they get the strike so that Dhoni could open his hands. The same thing happened on the field.
At a moment when Jasprit Bumrah had the strike and Lankan spinner Sachita Pathirana bowled a flighted delivery, Bumrah couldn’t make the strike and the ball hit his pads. The Lankans loudly appealed for an LBW. MS Dhoni, who was standing at the non-striker’s end, asked for the review even before the umpire could raise his finger.
Here’s the video:
When Dhoni made the right call, yet again! https://t.co/lvEUESB0XF
— Baahubali (@bahubalikabadla) December 11, 2017
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The TV replays showed that the ball was pitching outside the off stump and the impact was outside as well. After going through the visuals, the on-field umpires had to reverse the decision and Bumrah was safe.
MS Dhoni continued his fight against the Lankans and went on to score the 34th fifty of his ODI career. He ended up scoring 65 runs off 87 balls and hit 10 fours and 2 sixes. He was the last man to lose his wicket. India could only score 112 runs on the board.
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In return, the Lankans chased down the easy target in just 20.1 overs and won the game by 7 wickets. Suranga Lakmal bagged the ‘Man of the Match’ award with his phenomenal spell of 10 overs in which he picked up 2 wickets.
