Veterans say MS Dhoni cannot be blamed for the loss against West Indies

There are two things common in Indian cricket of late. When Virat Kohli fails, the rest of the team stumbles. And when MS Dhoni also falters, he is made the scapegoat for the loss. And this is just what happened after India lost to Windies by 11 runs in the 4th One Day International on Sunday. Except for Ajinkya Rahane, who scored a 60, and Dhoni, who scored a half century, his second consecutive 50 of the series, nobody else from the India batting line-up could muster runs against Jason Holders challenging bowling.

Although Dhoni scored a half century, it came off 108 balls, his slowest ODI innings and the second slowest in ODI history. The former captain came in at the crease after the fall of Dinesh Karthik and tried to consolidate the innings which was the need of the hour. He curbed his instincts on a two-paced wicket that was difficult to bat on. During his half century, he could gather only a solitary boundary. For a batsman whose ODI strike rate is 89 (on the lower side now), scoring at a rate of below 50 was a testament of how difficult it was for him to get runs while running out of partners.

But in the 48th over, in an attempt to hit big, he had to depart for an 114-ball 54, which meant India had nearly lost. However, experts believe that Dhoni cannot be blamed for the loss entirely. “What about the others at the top? What about their responsibility? Blaming Dhoni is the in thing now, but that’s not right because no one can question his intent. Success and failure are part and parcel of the game. He succeeded in the last match, but failed this time… it happens in cricket. Mind you, he hasn’t failed entirely, he has scored a fifty and was the second highest scorer in the match behind Ajinkya Rahane,” Mid Day quoted Kiran More, former India wicketkeeper as saying.

Dhoni’s failure backed by a valid reason?

Former India middle order batsman Praveen Amre didn’t watch the match but said, “Dhoni is a very senior and experienced cricketer. If he has failed then there has to be some reason behind his failure. It could be the slowness of the track, the uneven bounce, the attack etc. He just played a great knock in the third ODI, so one can have an off-day. There is nothing wrong with that.”