India v/s England 2nd ODI: MS Dhoni booed by Indian fans at Lord's, Virat Kohli answers back

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was booed by the Indian supporters at the Lord's during for his slow batting during the team's 86-run defeat against England in the second game of the three-match series.

On a day when he crossed the 10,000-run milestone in ODI cricket, Dhoni was widely criticised for not showing initiative in his 58-ball 37 as India could only manage 236 in 50 overs after England posted 322 for seven.

However, Indian captain Virat Kohli came to the rescue of under-fire former skipper. 

 

Virat Defends Dhoni

When former England skipper Nasser Hussain asked the question about Dhoni's approach, Kohli didn't look amused.

"This thing comes up again and again when he's not able to play the way he does," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

"It's unfortunate that people jump to conclusions quickly. When he does well, people call him the best finisher ever, and when things do not go well, people pounce on him," the Indian captain seemed trifle irritated with knee jerk reactions from fans and critics alike.

As he has done umpteen times, Kohli defended Dhoni.

"The idea was to take the innings deep. He has the experience but sometimes it doesn't come off. We totally believe in him and the ability of all the players," the skipper said.

With less than a year to go for the World Cup, Dhoni is very much in the scheme of things of the Indian team management for his vast experience and ability to read any match situations.

However, his waning abilities to carry the team alone in pressure situations at times has come under scanner.

In fact, it was a rare occasion when Dhoni was booed by the Indian fans after he blocked a few balls.

 

Root Surprised

While England's Joe Root found it "surprising", India's Yuzvendra Chahal said that he was unaware about the booing incident.

Before the start of the 46th over, the match was as good as over with 110 required off 30 balls. However the crowd got restless when Dhoni failed to score off the first four balls of David Willey's over. There was booing after every dot ball, a rare occurrence considering the huge fan base Dhoni enjoys around the cricketing globe.

In fact at the end of the over, substitute fielders Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel came in with an energy drink and replacement bat, which on air commentators termed as a message to push things.

Off the very first ball in the next over, Dhoni was caught at the deep mid-wicket boundary, trying a wild heave.

Chahal, who came for the post-match press conference, however said that there was no message from the dressing room for Dhoni to accelerate.

"I don't know what was said to him (when he changed bats). After Hardik was dismissed, there was only me, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav and Kuldeep. So it wasn't like there were 2-3 specialist batsmen remaining. "

"He hadn't batted much, so this was a chance to get a knock. If he had hit a shot earlier and got out, we couldn't have even batted all 50 overs," Chahal said.

While it didn't concern the English team, Root did find it a bit surprising.

"Yes (it was surprising), but ultimately it doesn't really concern us. We always try and judge how we approach the game and how we go about things. We try to maintain a professional approach and be as ruthless as possible. We managed to see India through by bowling them out by the end of the game. So we are looking after our own game and putting ourselves in a strong position by the end of the game," Root said.

Hailed as one of the best ever finishers in limited overs, Dhoni in the past couple of years have struggled to finish a lot of high pressure games unless there has been top-order support from the other end.

India were chasing a competitive target of 323 on a Lord's track that slowed down and for once the top order failed with a lot of responsibility on Dhoni. However Dhoni failed to force the pace with India managing only 236 in 50 overs.

 

The Best Finisher? 

Since the home ODI series against Australia last September, Dhoni has batted 13 times scoring 267 runs with four not outs. The average has been 29.66 which can be put in perspective considering at what time of the innings, he comes into bat.

However the most telling statistic is a strike-rate of 78.07 which is an indication that he is not able to force the pace down the order right at the onset.

With Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul batting in the first four positions, the latest that the former skipper can come into bat is No 5 but Suresh Raina is being seen as an enforcer in that position.

It leaves Dhoni with either No 6 or 7 depending on where Kohli wants the big-hitting Hardik Pandya.

"Had it been 80 in 7 overs and if Hardik would have been around, Dhoni would have still gone for it. But with 120 odd runs and Hardik being dismissed, he knew that chase was out of bounds. We shouldn't judge a player on the basis of one match," former India pacer Ashish Nehra said at the post-match TV show.

Kohli on his part felt that it was one bad day and also the fact that England brought forth their A game.

"We started pretty well with the bat. It was a good wicket but got slower. When we lost three wickets in three overs that hurt us. I thought that's where we fell behind. Credit to the bowlers, they stuck to their guns. Today was a day when we couldn't get going.

"Moeen and Rashid are both quality bowlers in this format and sensed we couldn't take risks. They created pressure in the middle overs. If it was one down we could have attacked a bit more," Kohli said.

(With PTI Inputs)