World Cup 2019: MS Dhoni did the right thing for India against Bangladesh, opines Sachin Tendulkar

MS Dhoni has scored 223 runs at 44.60 in the 2019 World Cup, but he has had his fair share of difficulties. In a number of games, he failed to up the ante owing to which he has been a recipient of severe criticism from the supporters. On July 2, India defeated Bangladesh by 28 runs at the Edgbaston in Birmingham and became the second team to qualify for the semis after Australia.

However, Dhoni was put to swords yet another time. The 37-year-old could only score 35 off 33 balls and got out to Mustafizur Rahman in the last over of the Indian innings. His knock had four fours, but the fans weren’t happy with the approach he trod in the death overs. He even farmed the strike in the final over, but couldn’t make much of an impact after which he was greeted with brickbats.

MS Dhoni did his job perfectly

Dhoni has a strike-rate of 93.30 in the mega event. He was criticised by even some of the former cricketers for his knocks against Afghanistan and England. People lashed out at him for not showing enough intent. In the meantime, Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar backed Dhoni for his knock versus the Tigers and said that the batsman did something that the team expects him to do.

“I felt it was an important inning and he (MS Dhoni) did exactly what was right for the team. If he stays till the 50th over, he can help other guys around him. He is expected to do that and he did that. For him, it is more about the team. Whatever is the need of the hour, one needs to do that and on Tuesday, he did that perfectly,” Sachin was quoted as saying in India Today.

Surprisingly, it was Tendulkar, who wasn’t satisfied with Dhoni’s knock versus the Afghans at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. The veteran reckoned that Dhoni, along with Kedar Jadhav, was over-cautious for way too long while facing the likes of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi.

“I felt slightly disappointed, it could have been much better. I was also not happy with the partnership between Kedar and Dhoni, it was very slow. We batted 34 overs of spin bowling and scored 119 runs. This was one area where we didn’t look comfortable at all. There was no positive intent,” the Master Blaster had mentioned after the game.