MS Dhoni was back leading India in white-ball cricket after the men in blue rested five players, including captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Shikhar Dhawan.
It was a special moment for Dhoni as he became captain for the 200th time in ODIs. He took the captain’s cap after a gap of 696 days, bringing back some great memories for India fans.
It was a challenging match for Dhoni as Afghanistan had beaten Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup before losing narrowly to Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Here we analyse his captaincy in the field as Afghanistam made 252-8 batting first.
30-SECOND REPORT
One man army literally today- Mohammad Shahzad , what an innings
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) September 25, 2018
Afghanistan opener Mohammad Shahzad hit the Indian bowlers hard from the start and was instrumental in the Afghans crossing 250. Had Shahzad been caught when on 49, Afghanistan’s total would have been a lot smaller and Dhoni’s task that much easier. Dhoni didn’t panic as Afghanistan kept smashing sixes and made the most of a second-choice bowling attack, shielding an off-colour Deepak Chahar (1-37 from four overs) well.
GOT RIGHT
His wicketkeeping is sharp as ever even at the age of 37 and he didn’t let captaincy affect it. His super quick stumpings of opener Javed Ahmadi and middle order bat Hashmatullah Shahidi needed reaction times of 0.12 seconds and 0.16 seconds respectively. Not only does Dhoni retain his edge as captain but also with the gloves behind the stumps. Still one of the finest glovemen out there in world cricket.
GOT WRONG
Kedar Jadhav.
Pacer Siddarth Kaul bowled nine overs for 58 runs while frugal spinner Kedar Jadhav delivered seven for just 27. The part-time spinner is very difficult to hit and he should have bowled out his overs as more batsmen could have perished hitting his slower than usual balls compared to Kaul’s quick deliveries.
VERDICT: 7/10
Dhoni did what he could given the resources he had it his disposal. He didn’t have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah or Yuzvendra Chahal who would have given him a lot more control against centurion Shahzad and all-rounder Mohammad Nabi (64). Given he had inexperienced quicks like Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar and Kaul, Dhoni had to find overs from Jadhav. Even so, a total of 252-8 was a decent effort in the field.
