Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20: Puneet Bisht tries to emulate MS Dhoni but messes up

MS Dhoni may not be a keeper, straight out of the copybook, yet he is deemed as a prudent character in the art. The veteran has his own methods that has worked wonders for him. Owing to his great level of success, many youngsters have tried to emulate him. Even experienced heads from the cricket fraternity have attempted to try their hands at Dhoni’s antics with the gloves.

The latest of them was Puneet Bisht, who is plying his trade for Meghalaya in the 2019-20 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. The keeper, who earlier used to play for Delhi, has had a reasonable tournament thus far with the bat in hand. In three matches, the 33-year-old has 114 runs at an average of 28.5. In the last match against Madhya Pradesh, Bisht churned out a 19-ball 44.

Puneet Bisht goofs up big time

Unfortunately, his knock, laced with six fours and a couple of sixes, couldn’t save Meghalaya from an 85-run defeat at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. As far as emulating Dhoni is concerned, Bisht flattered to deceive in a miserable way. In the last ball of the 17th over, left-arm spinner Sanjay Yadav churned out a wide delivery and batsman Rajat Patidar cut it away to the point fielder.

The fielder fumbled a wee bit, but was quick to recover, making a strong return. Patidar was already halfway down the track and had minimal chances of making his ground after being sent back by non-striker Venkatesh Iyer. Bisht had ample time to take the bails off, but instead tried to flick the ball on to the stumps. To his poor luck, the leather eluded the stumps and Patidar got a lifeline.

At that time, Patidar was batting on 38 from 20 balls with Madhya Pradesh’s score being 189 for the loss of three wickets. The miss ended up costing Meghalaya severely as Patidar racked up 30 runs off the last nine deliveries. The stand between him and Iyer notched up 56 runs off 20 balls.

Madhya Pradesh ended up scoring 244 for the loss of four wickets in their 20 overs. In the run-chase, Bisht gave his side a blistering start, but there were very few contributions from the others. Amiangshu Sen, Dwarka Ravi Teja and Sanjay Yadav scored in the 20s, but couldn’t convert.

Here is the video of Bisht’s missed run-out chance