India vs WI: Fans blast Virat Kohli as MS Dhoni remains on 9,999 ODI runs for India

Thiruvananthapuram: India made light work of the West Indies on Thursday as they romped to a comprehensive 9-wicket victory in the final ODI at Thiruvananthapuram to win the five-match series by a margin of 3-1.

After Jason Holder and co were bundled out for 104 thanks to Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli ensured the chase was completed in just 14.5 overs despite the dismissal of Shikhar Dhawan early on. But many fans were peeved as MS Dhoni missed out on a big milestone for India.

While it was evident that the Men in Blue were likely winners after the Caribbean collapse, fans were unhappy with skipper Kohli’s decision to not send Dhoni out in the middle that would have seen him score 10,000 ODI runs in India colours after the Jharkhand cricketer was just a run away from achieving the unique feat.

Kohli-led India will play their next ODI series in Australia during January 2019 which means that the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman will finish the current year with 9999 runs in his kitty.

Although the Jharkhand cricketer was unlikely to open the innings despite the low total, fans suggested that Kohli could have promoted Dhoni in his own no.3 position after Dhawan was dismissed early on.

Here’s how they reacted:

Kohli on Thursday reiterated that Mahendra Singh Dhoni remains an integral part of the ODI team and the veteran wicket-keeper batsman decided not to play the upcoming T20s only to make way for the much younger Rishabh Pant.

"I think the selectors have already addressed this if I'm not wrong. And he's been spoken to, firstly... So, I don't see any reason why I should be sitting here and explaining that. I think the selectors have come out and explained exactly what happened," said Kohli at the post-match press conference after guiding India to another series win at home.

"I was not part of that conversation so... It is what the selectors explained. I think people are putting too much variables into the situation, which is not the case I can assure you of that. He's still a very integral part of this team and he just feels that in the T20 format, someone like Rishabh can get more chances."

Dhoni has been dropped for the upcoming T20 series against the West Indies and Australia and there is a possibility that he never plays for India again in the shortest format.

"He anyway plays the ODIs for us regularly, so... From that point of view, he's only trying to help the youngsters; nothing that anything that other people are thinking and I as captain can certainly assure you of that," Kohli said.