MS Dhoni, the former Indian skipper, has been known to be the coolest person on the field and rarely we see the finisher losing his temper during a game. However, during the India vs Australia 2017, 1st ODI, he did lose his temper and Kedar Jadhav had to be on the receiving end.
It was a day when the world was expecting a humiliating defeat for the Virat Kohli-led Indian team as they lost their first three batsmen for just 11 runs in the first innings of the India vs Australia 2017, 1st ODI, but it was MS Dhoni who once again proved his worth on the pitch and produced yet another magical innings to take India out of a massive hole while inspiring the team to a 26-run (DLS) victory over the visitors.
With his 79-runs knock, MS Dhoni became only the fourth Indian after the likes of Sachin (164) Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (145) and Sourav Ganguly (107) to register a century of fifties in international cricket, which in itself an unbelievable feat considering that MS Dhoni is a middle-order batsman.
However, there was a moment in the 22nd over that could have sent MS Dhoni back to the pavilion when he was going to steal an impossible single during the match.
Things were not looking good for the hosts but Kedar Jadhav (40) had held one end up after Rohit Sharma was dismissed in the 64th over with 64-4 reflected on the board. While he was later joined by MS Dhoni and all hopes were on them but when Dhoni was on 7, he played the ball to cover and set off for stealing a single but got no response from his partner, Kedar Jadhav.
MS Dhoni turned to get back but slipped in the middle and was left stranded, while Hilton Cartwright got to the ball and hastily tried a throw towards the stumps but missed. That being said, it resulted in an overthrow and the two batsmen finally completed the run but right after that, MS Dhoni turned and gave Jadhav a stare which might have given him a score of his lifetime.
Watch the video here.
https://twitter.com/Cricvids1/status/909356074427236353
Australia, nonetheless, got a wicket on the very next ball as Jadhav, batting at 40 tried to play over mid-wicket, but ended up giving a simple catch to Cartwright.
However, Hardik Pandya joined MS Dhoni on the crease and the two lead team India to a respectable total of 281 runs and Australia was then given a target of 164 runs die to DLS. During the chase, the visitors tumbled down to the Indian spin attack and India registered an easy 26 runs-win in the first ODI, taking a lead of 1-0.
MS Dhoni now has 9,737 runs in One Day Internationals and requires 263 more runs to achieve the 10,000-run milestone in the format, which considering his current form, might be reached before the end of this year.
Everything said and done, while Kedar Jadhav was right at his end as the single seemed impossible but MS Dhoni, as experienced as he is, might have thought that a direct throw was impossible in the heat of the game and it was a chance worth taking.
While MS Dhoni’s dismissal at that stage could have been a complete game changer, as a teammate, don’t you think he should have talked to his partner on the crease about the miscommunication because from what we saw, it was the pressure that led Kedar Jadhav to lose his wicket on the very next ball.
Share your thoughts in the comments section below.