Former West Indies legend, Michael Holding has clearly stated that MS Dhoni wanted to win the game against England in the 2019 World Cup and nobody should question his intent for the same. Recently, Ben Stokes sparked a huge controversy when he went on to say that MS Dhoni lacked the intent to win the game for India.
Since then, a lot of cricketers, past and present, have gone on to support Dhoni while a few have agreed to Stokes’ perception. India lost the only group game in their entire World Cup campaign against England when they failed to chase a mammoth total of 338 runs. Team India could manage only 206 runs in their 50 overs, and MS Dhoni stayed not out on 42 runs off 31 balls.
Now, Michael Holding has slammed all those people who have been questioning MS Dhoni’s intent since Stokes brought it to light.
Michael Holding Lashes Out At People Questioning MS Dhoni’s Intent
“Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times,” Michael Holding said.
“But, to be honest, a lot of people watching that game perhaps wouldn’t have arrived to the same conclusion that Ben Stokes arrived at that India were not playing to win,” he added.
No One Can Say That India Deliberately Lost: Michael Holding
“It was not the game that India had to win, but I don’t think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren’t putting up their 100 per cent, but I realized it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni’s face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win,” Holding further said.
” But I don’t think they went with the same intensity of wanting to win the game, say, if it was a do or die situation. If it was, we would have seen a different game,” Holding concluded.