Being an Indian cricketer is a tough job not just physically but emotionally as well. Till the time a player is performing well, Indian fans will pour immense love on him but as a cricketer performs poorly in 2-3 matches, they just don’t want to see him on the field.
MS Dhoni is one of the most loved Indian cricketers but he was also booed by audience when he batted slowly in the Lord’s during the second ODI against England. Social media was abuzz with people expressing their opinion over the retirement timing of the former skipper and when Dhoni took the ball from the umpires after Headingley ODI, everybody thought that the time has come when Dhoni will soon announce his retirement.
Few days ago, Indian skipper Virat Kohli slammed those who unnecessarily criticise Dhoni as it was the whole team that had a bad day and not just Mahi.
Now the coach of Indian cricket team Ravi Shastri has come out in defense of the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman and explained why he took ball from the umpires.
He told TOI,
“MS wanted to show the ball to Bharat Arun. He wanted to show him the wear and tear the ball had endured, to get a general idea of what the conditions were like.”
Dhoni has accumulated 79 runs in the three matches of the series; his average was 39.50 and strike rate was 63.20.
When Ravi was asked whether Dhoni’s retirement is near, he said,
“That’s rubbish. MS is not going anywhere. But right now, all this clamour is nonsense. He wanted to show the ball to Arun to just have a look at it after close to 45 overs had been bowled.”
India lost the ODI series to England by 2-1 after the host clinched victory in the third ODI played at Headingley. Fans are hoping to see better performance by the Indian team in the test matches and T20i.