MS Dhoni loses his cool after Vijay Hazare semi-final defeat

A fighting half-century from MS Dhoni was just not enough for the Jharkhand team to make it to the finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017. Jharkhand were up against Bengal in the semi-finals of the tournament. Batting first, team Bengal posted a mammoth 330 runs riding on centuries from Abhimanyu Easwaran (101) and Shreevats Goswami (101). The lacklustre bowling show from Jharkhand saw a lot of runs leak out in the middle and end overs.

The target of 330 was daunting and never going to be easy. Despite that, the Jharkhand side had hopes with skipper MS Dhoni being in the middle order. Dhoni and middle-order batsman Ishank Jaggi added 97 runs in the middle order before both batsmen perished in quick succession.

Earlier, Dhoni had added 53 runs with Saurabh Tiwary for the 4th wicket as well. Dhoni fell to the bowling of Pragyan Ojha. His departure saw a cavalcade of dismissals as Jharkhand lost by 41 runs. Dhoni has been characterized by his captain cool image. However, on the day, he was seen losing his cool. This is only justified knowing how badly he wished to win the tournament.

After having been sacked as the Rising Pune Supergiants captain and no longer being the Indian skipper, a trophy under his cabinet would have been a silent slap for the critics. One of the players from the team noted the same and explained that it was poor bowling and fielding that cost them the came. He admitted that this was the first time they saw Dhoni lose his cool.

“We desperately wanted to make it into the final. It was Mahi bhai’s desire to win the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Our bowlers lacked consistency. You don’t expect such kind of bowling in a semifinal match,” a player quoted.

“Because of poor fielding and lack of consistency in bowling, they (Bengal) were able to put up 330 runs. Dhoni bhai was not pleased with that and for the first time I saw him so upset. You don’t expect Dhoni bhai to lose his calm. He is the one who always backs us,” he added further.

Ishank Jaggi, who shared a crucial partnership with Dhoni, also reflected back at the same and said that as long as they were at the crease, Jharkhand had a sniff. He revealed how calculative Dhoni was when he was batting in the middle.

“When we both were in the middle, he was very calculative and was advising me when to go for a big hit. He knew, if he could stay till the end, he would have finished off the game in our favour. He was really upset today as it meant a lot to him and all of us,” Ishank Jaggi quoted.