Rohit Sharma hails MS Dhoni’s safe hands after his stunner against West Indies

Team India, on Thursday, once again proved their title credentials by dismantling West Indies. It was a thoroughly dominating performance from one of the firm favourites for the clash. Not many would have predicted such an easy ride for the Men in Blue especially after the batsmen failed to do well but the bowlers once again lived up to the expectations. In the end, India thrashed West Indies by 125 runs to all but seal their spot in the last four.

Batting first on a tough Manchester track, India finished on a modest yet competitive total of 268 for 7. Skipper Virat Kohli once again starred with the bat, scoring 72 while his predecessor MS Dhoni scored an unbeaten 56 to take the team to a good score. KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya also played handy knocks, scoring 48 and 46 respectively.

The bowlers then played their part to perfection. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami kept things tight right from the start before the latter dismissed Chris Gayle and Shai Hope in quick succession to put India on top. West Indies could never really recover from those early setbacks and eventually crumbled for 143 to fall out of the semi-finals race.

Rohit hails MS Dhoni

One of the highlights of the game was the catch that MS Dhoni took to send back Carlos Brathwaite. On the first ball of the 27th over, Brathwaite edged a Bumrah delivery behind the stumps. With the ball angled towards the leg side, Dhoni had initially moved to his left while the ball went to his right side. But despite being wrong-footed, he put in a full-fledged dive to take a stunner. Rohit Sharma, the vice-captain was standing at first slip and had the best view of the catch.

He took to Twitter to hail Dhoni’s safe hands he took a picture of that very moment and wrote: “???? safe hands ???? ek nahi do do ???? @msdhoni”

Meanwhile, barring the catch, Dhoni had a forgettable day behind the stumps. He conceded 9 byes, the most by him in an ODI in his illustrious career. His previous highest was the seven runs he had conceded against the same side in 2014.