It was a day to forget for the Indian cricket fans as their side suffered their first defeat at the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup against England, who registered a comfortable 31-run win in Birmingham on Sunday.
Riding on a brilliant century from Jonny Bairstow and a late cameo from Ben Stokes, the hosts had put up 337/ 7 in their 50 overs. In reply, though the Indians looked to be in control as long as skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were in the middle, once the two departed, their innings fell apart as none of the other batsmen could force the issue. This, they eventually fell short of 31 runs.
However, it was wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni who came under heavy criticism as he once again failed to pace his innings as the required run-rate kept soaring with every passing over. Though Rohit came to Dhoni’s defence in the post-match press conference stating that the slowness in the pitch made it extremely difficult to time the shots, the social media world was having none of that.
Here are a few reactions to Dhoni’s 42 of 31 deliveries against England.
Someone please give those insignia gloves to Dhoni, like now.
— Naila Inayat नायला इनायत (@nailainayat) June 30, 2019
kya hai yeh fielding. Cheh! Give them the match. They deserve it. #ENGvIND #CWC19
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) June 30, 2019
Dhoni waiting for the 49th over. pic.twitter.com/uI0VWl7EiN
— Alagappan V (@IndianMourinho) June 30, 2019
Even Sourav Ganguly has no explanation for singles frenzy by Dhoni and Jadhav when they need to accelerate the inning.
— Kumar Manish (@kumarmanish9) June 30, 2019
The intent is missing. #INDvENG #CWC19
Indian run rate once Dhoni comes in ..#INDvENG #indiavsEngland pic.twitter.com/y7FVsKQ5rU
— Punter (@I_m_Punter) June 30, 2019
Dhoni right now. 56 runs off 17 balls. #cwc19 #indveng pic.twitter.com/nFIlKR2e2F
— Cricky! (@crickyup) June 30, 2019
Dhoni digging India grave with singles #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/8uxoxPtMgV
— dr _chloroform😴👨🔬💉 (@sirfyou) June 30, 2019
Seeing such a reaction, one can only hope that the Indian team, and especially Dhoni, find their mojo soon and get back to winning ways.
Feature image courtesy: Twitter/ @cricketworldcup
