The former Indian cricketer and team captain, Sachin Tendulkar expressed his disappointment in the recent India vs Afghanistan World Cup match. He said that Dhoni and Jadhav lacked ‘positive intent’.
We’ve all been hearing the news of Sachin Tendulkar’s statements leading to a vitriolic campaign against him and fans are not happy! His recent statements on MS Dhoni’s limpid performance during the India vs. Afghanistan World Cup clash in Southampton have led him to become a victim of online trolling. But what really happened out there? What’s the entire story?
Tendulkar expressed his disappointment at the Indian team’s slow batting display, saying that Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav lacked ‘positive intent’. After all, this was the first time India’s top-order failed in the tournament although skipper Virat Kohli scored 67 as the Gulbadin Naib-led side restricted the two-time champions to a below-par 224 for eight.
Tendulkar said, “I felt slightly disappointed, it could have been much better. I was also not happy with the partnership between Kedar and Dhoni, it was very slow. We batted 34 overs of spin bowling and scored 119 runs. This was one area where we didn’t look comfortable at all. There was no positive intent.”
Dhoni entered the field during the 27th over, and honestly, we’ve seen better days of the player. In a painstakingly slow inning of 28 runs in 52 balls, Dhoni’s formula had clearly flopped, and cheers turned into boos in a matter of 75 minutes. Once Rashid stumped him, his departure was met with such relief and joy and surprisingly, people wanted to watch Pandya play instead.
Towards the end, if it hadn’t been Mohammad Shami flipping the script with his last over hat-trick, teamed up with legendary death over bowling by Jasprit Bumrah, you never know history would have been scripted that night.
As quoted by Tendulkar, “A senior player Dhoni should have taken charge as Jadhav’s batting was hardly tested in the tournament.” Jadhav had only faced eight balls (against Pakistan) in the only tournament before the encounter against Afghanistan.
He later added, “Kedar Jadhav was under pressure, he had not had an outing up until now. He needed someone to take charge of the situation early on but that did not happen. Both Kedar and Dhoni were not able to play at the required strike rate that they would have wanted.”
Indeed, there were many who came up to express their disappointment by Dhoni’s gameplay, however, it was Tendulkar’s comments that didn’t go too well with die-hard fans and Dhoni loyalists, which led him to come under the direct line of fire. People have been trolling the former Indian team captain ruthlessly while supporting their favorite MS Dhoni. Serious comparisons were made between the two and soon after started to pour in on social media as well.
