While India recorded another dominating victory over Sri Lanka in the 3rd ODI and claimed the series by 3-0, the match itself was a happening one, despite a dull performance by the hosts. While Jasprit Bumrah helped India restrict the opposition to 217 runs with his career best ODI figures (10-27-5), Rohit Sharma (124*) and MS Dhoni (67*) wrapped up the game for the visitors with a much needed partnership, after the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Kedar Jadhav went cheap in the initial stages of the match.
However, just before the final moments of the India vs Sri Lanka 3rd ODI, fans decided that they have had enough of the sorry performances from the home team and starting hurling bottles at the ground to show their displeasure.
Innocent Bystander on Twitter
Plenty of police around now… #slvind
Situations like these are very common in the Asian sub-continent as fans treat the game of Cricket as a religion and even India have witnessed fans showing their vexation during a match, the most famous one being the finals of World Cup 1996 at Kolkata when India was on the verge of facing a defeat against Sri Lanka.
A similar infamous incident happened at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur which hosted its last match in 2006 and in 2002-03, when Indian team was playing against West Indies, the crowd started bursting crackers and throwing water bottles at the players.
However, when the situation got out of hands at Pallekele stadium yesterday, it was not the unacceptable behavior that got everyone’s attention but it was what MS Dhoni decided to do with the spare time he had as authorities were trying to control the situation.
There is a reason why MS Dhoni is known as captain cool and what he did yesterday, might have made him the right King of the White Walkers (pun).
Making maximum use of this time, MS Dhoni decided to recharge himself by taking a power nap on the field and after seeing this, Sunil Gavaskar in the commentator studios claimed that MS Dhoni should be a citizen of Iceland while Ajay Jadeja and Murali Karthik went on to using terms like a refrigerator and an air conditioner in order to describe the coolness of Captain Cool.
Shantanu on Twitter
Simply Dhoni Things #SLvIND #INDvSL https://t.co/V5v0Gb95gr
But keeping everything aside, this was a never seen act and it depicts the cool-headedness of MS Dhoni’s mind as despite being in the center of the Pallekele stadium with almost 20,000 people, he decided to have a quickie.
As expected, Twitter went crazy and came up with some epic reactions on MS Dhoni: The Napping Story.
Chetan Narula on Twitter
Now three… either way, its sad what’s happening. #SLvInd
Cricketopia on Twitter
Pic of the Day – MS Dhoni takes a nap after crowd disturbance during the #SLvIND 3rd ODI PC – @Madan_Chikna
Sameer Allana on Twitter
Me in the morning: Bass 5 minute aur..
Manya on Twitter
When you’ve been successfully carrying the international team for 13 years and people still ask for your retirement :
Gaurav Sethi on Twitter
It’s for such occasions that channels need Vinod Kambli on standby for his expertise #INDvSL
ChandramukhiStark on Twitter
Rohit : Bhai Crowd has gone mad, they are throwing stones and bottles in the ground. Kya karein? Dhoni : #INDvSL
CricTracker on Twitter
MS Dhoni takes a nap on the field as Sri Lankan fans hurl bottles. #SLvIND
Sir Lazy on Twitter
Me : I got lots of work to do, exams to write and assignments to submit on Monday. Me on Sunday :
Godman Chikna on Twitter
Dhoni when Sakshi says bas 5 min mein ready ho ke aati hoon. #INDvSL
Harisankar on Twitter
This is me everytime there is an India-Srilanka ODI
During his International career, we have seen many occasions where the former Indian captain kept his cool in pressure-cooker situation while leading the team to numerous victories.