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:
He should have been sent out to open today. Wonder why Kohli did not bestow the honour to Dhoni. He needed just one run.!
— S.K.Nataraj (@SKNataraj1) November 1, 2018
Well Kohli, The Leader? MS gave captaincy to Ganguly during his last cricketing moments. With jst 1 run short, @msdhoni should’ve been promoted to reach the historical 10k feat today ‘Not everyone can be be #Dhoni ‘
— Divya Sharma (@divdivdiv) November 1, 2018
~MSD Fan-girl~
#INDvWI #INDvsWI #Kohli @imVkohli @BCCI #MSDhoni
He could have also come in at no. 3. But instead, Virat Kohli came out when Shikhar got out.
— Abhijeet Swain (@abhitweets7) November 1, 2018
Dhoni should have came at no.3... he was just short of 1 run to complete 10000 runs #INDvWI
— Abhishek Bhattar (@ABHISHKBHATTAR) November 1, 2018
So Dhoni will have to wait for that 1 run to reach 10 thousand runs in ODIs till next year.
— Makarand Waingankar (@wmakarand) November 1, 2018
MS Dhoni Just One Run Away From Reaching A Sensational Milestone pic.twitter.com/SSOjtXTAiS
— Tech Vise (@Techvise1) November 1, 2018
@msdhoni has the chance of completing 10,000 Runs in ODI Cricket. He is just 1 Run away from this Record. MS Dhoni has 10,173 ODI Runs but 174 of those were in the Afro-Asia Cup Tournament. For #TeamIndia , He has made 9999 Runs. #INDvWI #INDvsWI #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/T0gZGqQBhV
— Aditya Saha (@adityakumar480) November 1, 2018
Hey @imVkohli ,
— Rohit kumar jain (@Rkj_001) November 2, 2018
First of all cngrts for winning the series #INDvsWI
U knw #Bhuvi only need one wicket fir his ðŸ'¯ ODI wkt bt u didn't give bwlng in lst & #ms also only need 1 run for his 10000 runs in ODI for India but u didn't send him early.#worstcaptaincy#notagoodperson
Ms dhoni should have Bat in no 3 Yesterday. @imVkohli you are very jealous of dhoni....he needed only 1 Run to complete his 10000 international Runs @imVkohli
— AVIJIT (@avijitghosh01) November 2, 2018
It was a small total to chase . @imVkohli Should have given that 1 run opportunity to #Dhoni to get to 10k milestone. Dhoni himself has given chances to many to become greats, but looks like things are changing. Will see the great bat again next year Jan 12 vs Australia. @BCCI
— Binu Kumar (@v2bikum) November 1, 2018
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.
