The mood in the Indian dressing room has been positive and changed for the good since the end of the Champions Trophy. The tournament did end on a sad note for the Men in Blue after they lost the final against arch-rivals Pakistan, and the players came under further pressure when Anil Kumble sensationally stepped down as the head coach, citing captain Virat Kohli’s reservations over his style of functioning.
However, it did not affect the players’ much as they kept on performing impressively on the field and a recent video uploaded on Instagram is enough to prove that the players have moved on from the defeat in Champions Trophy and Kumble’s acrimonious exit.
After the win in the second ODI against Australia, Virat Kohli and his teammates threw a surprise belated birthday party for Manish Pandey, who turned 28 on September 10 and the players fully enjoyed the bash. The party began when Pandey cut the cake before MS Dhoni held him from behind, as his teammates began the customary smearing of the birthday boy’s face.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZVJGZ4B97S/?taken-by=champ.virat.kohli
And with the players getting in the mood, Dhoni took the safest seat in the room, sitting on the top of a chair. Kedar Jadhav then offered a piece of the cake to the former skipper, as the crazy celebration finally came to an end.
Meanwhile, Pandey will be hoping to get back to his best on the field after two failures in the ongoing series. The Karnataka star returned to the playing eleven after KL Rahul’s failure during the Sri Lanka and made a mark straightaway. Consequently, he retained the position in the ongoing series too, but has failed to impress, scoring 0 and three in the first couple of games.