India may have lost to England by 31 runs in what is dubbed as the team’s maiden defeat of the World Cup 2019, but what was baffling to watch was our batsmen MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav's complacent approach on Sunday.
Dhoni managed to get 42 off 31 balls while Jadhav finished on 12 of 13 balls. But the snail-paced partnership between the Dhoni and Jadhav proved difficult for the fans and experts alike to digest.
Although Team India captain Virat Kohli defended Dhoni saying that the wicket got slower towards the end of the game which made big shots quite difficult, analysts and former players too have expressed disappointment over Team India’s batsmen approach.
Mocking the nature of the defeat, cricket analyst and commentator Harsha Bhogle stated that it is disappointing to see such a finish, and that a run-a-ball partnership can’t win games.
He further added that the game was exciting as long as Hardik Pandya was at the crease.
Former India cricket Deep Dasgupta expressed that he would have been happier to see India all out for 290 rather than scoring 306 runs with five wickets remaining.
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar echoed that if there was any team that had the ability to stop India’s winning run, it was England. Dhoni’s approach in the last few overs however was baffling.
While commentators Sourav Ganguly and Nasser Hussain expressed surprise over how the two batsmen showed ‘no intent’ to win the game, angry fans criticised Dhoni and Jadhav’s slow approach and their uncharacteristic end to the Indian innings.
