ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Michael Clarke Defends MS Dhoni’s Less Aggressive Batting Performances
Jul 4, 2019 at 1:03 PM
Indian wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni has recently faced some criticisms for his recent less aggressive batting in the ongoing 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. However, the 2015 ICC CWC winning Australian captain Michael Clarke has strongly backed Dhoni. Even Clarke mentioned Dhoni as “the greatest finisher to ever play to this game.”
The former Indian World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni is not in a poor form at this moment. Rather than he is playing a crucial role in India’s middle-order batting line-up.
In the ongoing CWC, Dhoni has scored 223 runs in seven innings with an average of 44.60. The right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman has scored one half-century in this tournament.
However, his recent slow batting has faced some criticisms. Especially, many haven’t liked his batting against Afghanistan (28 runs off 52 balls) and England (42* runs off 31 balls) in this tournament. While India won the Afghanistan match closely by 11 runs, India suffered a 31-run defeat against England.
You don’t doubt greatness: Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke feels that people shouldn’t doubt MS Dhoni’s greatness. He believes that the greatest finisher Dhoni can easily fire in the knockout stages of the ongoing CWC. Clarke also added that Dhoni’s firing finishing skills needed to save for the must-win stages.
Clarke recently told India Today, “People haven’t learnt by now to not doubt MS Dhoni. I will say this… over and over and over again. You don’t doubt greatness. And MS Dhoni is a great. He is the greatest finisher to ever play to this game.
“Right now, India is doing it without MS Dhoni firing. Don’t waste him now. Save him for when India really need him. He might do it in the semi-final, he might do it in the final.
“As an opposition player or captain, you would be so silly to write him off.”
Sachin Tendulkar also supported MS Dhoni’s batting against Bangladesh
India secured their spot for the semi-final of this tournament on last Tuesday (2nd July) when they beat Bangladesh by 28 runs at Birmingham. After getting a great start in that match, the Indian middle-order batting once again struggled at the crucial moment. Youngster Rishabh Pant and the senior cricketer MS Dhoni both played the crucial innings at that moment to secure the 300+ total in the first innings (314/9). While Pant scored 48 runs off 41 balls, Dhoni scored 35 runs off 33 balls.
The legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has supported Dhoni’s batting performance against Bangladesh. Tendulkar feels that Dhoni did the exactly right thing to carry on his batting till the 50th over.