Though Mahendra Singh Dhoni has left the post of captain of the Indian Cricket Team, his captaining instincts haven’t died down. What happened in Chennai on September 17 simply showed that whosoever be the captain of the team, the match-winning strategy will always be Dhoni’s brainchild. From playing a miraculous knock of 79 runs off 88 balls to brewing up a partnership of 118 runs with Hardik Pandya, Dhoni anchored the entire game till the men in blue took it home.
Later, when the Aussies came to chase the reduced target of 164 runs from 21 overs (according to DLS method), MS Dhoni designed the roadmap to victory for Team India from behind the stumps. Dhoni kept both the spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in the loop and gave continuously instructions. As he is habitual of that, he kept on talking from behind the wickets and said,”Woh maarne wala dalna, andar ya baahar koi bhi (Bowl the one that he tries to hit, either turning in or out). More specifically, he hinted,”Woh ghoomne wala (The one which turns).”
In between, Glenn Maxwell came to the crease and he looked pretty destructive. That time Dhoni asked Kuldeep to give flight to the ball and keep it wide. Unlike what Dhoni said, Kuldeep followed the middle wicket line and Maxwell hammered him for a few big hits. Kuldeep’s line and length were disliked by Dhoni and said,”Na, na, na. Isko itna aage nahi (No, not this much full).”
Chahal was the man who finally got the breakthrough and removed Maxwell. When Chahal bowled wide outside the stumps, Maxwell mistimed it and his batting stint came to an end. Maxwell ended up scoring 39 of 18 balls.
Team India won the match by 26 runs and are leading the 5-match series by 1-0. All-rounder Hardik Pandya bagged the Man of the Match award for his blistering 83 off 66 balls. The second ODI is scheduled to be played in Kolkata on September 21.
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