The first question MS Dhoni had to face was the million dollar question – is this his last match? Dhoni first looked at media manager and asked will he answer this question for him? Then smiled and asked the reporter to file public interest litigation (PIL) for this answer.
When asked why did he play slow at today’s ODI, he said, “Got off to slow start because didn’t want a repeat of Canberra where I got out and it was left to Jadeja, Mann and Rishi Dhawan.”
He has praised Manish Pandey and said the batsman has good future. “Good to get somebody to score a hundred at No. 5, Manish Pandey has a good future.”
Dhoni also praised debutant Jasprit Bumhra who took two wickets and conceded 40 runs. But said bowling needs to improve as India’s batting quite settle and the area of concern is bowling. “We are looking for bowlers like Bumrah.” “Umesh had an off day, but Bumrah was fantastic playing his first game. We need to give credit to our bowlers as well, today we did a decent job.”
When asked about players in the domestic circuit, Dhoni said, “I don’t have any clue who is performing well in the domestic circuit, I rely on selectors.”
Meanwhile, when asked Virat Kohli’s shot which hit spider cam, Dhoni said, “Anything that disturbs the game of cricket I don’t like. “Why not keep a reward for hitting the spider cam, $2000 per hit is a good option,” Dhoni answered.
Meanwhile, India became the first team to chase down a three hundred run plus target against Australia in Australian conditions. Manish Pandey scored a brilliant hundred that helped India to chase down Australia’s 330 target.
Australia batting first scored 330 runs. David Warner scored 122 while Mitchell Marsh scored 102. Indian in reply started well as Shikhar Dhawa and Rohit Sharma built a 123 run partnership. Dhawan was hammering Australian bowler and scored 78 off 56 balls.
Dhawan scored seven fours and three boundaries. But, his explosive batting come to an end when Shaun Marsh took a stunning catch in the middle of the cover and deep mid wicket.
After his departure Virat Kohli also left scoring just eight runs off 11 balls.
In the last over of the day India needed 13 runs. Dhoni hit a six of the first ball that made thing easy for Manish Pandey.