MS Dhoni has been criticized earlier for his perplexing innings against England on Sunday. The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman, who has not had the best of World Cup so far, once again struggled to hit boundaries when required as he left fans and experts in disbelief with his unfamiliar approach. However, having Rishab Pant in the team, it won’t be a surprise if we see Dhoni being benched for today’s game against Bangladesh.
Dhoni can be dropped
England winning the toss set a target of 338, India could manage 306/5 in their 50 overs with Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav remaining unbeaten on 42 (31 balls) and 12 (13 balls) respectively. The men in blue just needed 71 runs off 5 overs. All eyes were glued on Dhoni who is known to be one of the best finishers of the game. But surprisingly Dhoni and Kedar didn’t even give a try and they couldn’t pull it off for the side.
Former cricketers like Sourav Ganguly were surprised with 37-year old’s approach against England. He said “I don’t have an explanation for this. You can’t be chasing 338 and still have five wickets in the end. It’s about mindset and the way you look at the game. The message had to be clear: no matter where it comes and no matter where the ball lands you have to find the boundary.”
Squad for today
Now for today’s game, the speculations suggest that Dhoni may not be a part of playing XI today. Earlier, Mayank Agarwal has been called to replace injured Vijay Shankar. If Agarwal will play tomorrow then Indian skipper Virat Kohli may go with Rihab Pant who is already in the playing XI and bench MS Dhoni as a wicket-keeper batsman.
In the meantime, Mayank Agarwal can open the innings with Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul can go down to number 4 on his proposed position for this World Cup. There are also rumors that Virat Kohli might drop one spinner to bring in Bhuveneshwar Kumar in the playing XI but these are just a calculated theory.
India will come into the game with just a day’s break after their setback against England. The pitch is going to be the same as what they play against the host. So they will have an advantage of better knowledge of the conditions than their opponents. The men in Blue are just one win away from semi-final qualification.
