MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav tried to hit but couldn’t do because of slow wicket, says Rohit Sharma

India vice-captain Rohit Sharma after the team’s 31-run loss to hosts England at Edgbaston on Sunday justified the baffling finish they had to the innings. While they had two batsmen at the crease, India didn’t seem like they’re aiming to chase down the score. Rohit suggested that they couldn’t accelerate the scoring in the last 10 overs because of the slowness of the pitch. He clarified that MS Dhoni (42 not out) and Kedar Jadhav (12 not out) were trying to hit but were not able to execute it since the surface had turned slower.

The duo could add only 39 runs in the last 31 balls – while the ask was for boundaries they just tried to rotate the strike – and India barely crossed 300 while chasing 338 to win. The victory brought England back into the race for the semi-final and put chances of teams like Pakistan and Bangladesh in jeopardy. India lost opener KL Rahul early for a duck and then Rohit and captain Virat Kohli took over. They added 138 runs for the second wicket to give India a strong platform to go for the target.

Rishabh Pant, playing in his debut World Cup game, made 32 while Hardik Pandya contributed a quickfire 45 but at the end, these efforts fell inadequate. The Dhoni-Jadhav partnership was criticised by the experts, even by former India players who thought the batsmen did not show enough intent as the game drew closer to end.

“When MS and Kedar were batting, I think they were trying to hit, but they were not able to because of the slowness of the pitch,” Rohit, who hit 102 which is his third century in this World Cup, said in the post-match media interaction. “You’ve got to give credit to English team because they used the conditions really well. They used the longer boundary really well.”

Dhoni, Jadhav criticised for slow batting against Afghanistan as well

This is not the first time that Dhoni and Jadhav have faced flak for his slow batting in this tournament. The duo was criticised for its slow approach against the spinners in the Afghanistan game while Dhoni came under the scanner for a slowish batting against the West Indies as well although he accelerated in the later stage to make up for it.

India next play Bangladesh at the same venue on Tuesday.