ICC World Cup 2019 - Riddle In The Middle

The lack of depth in India’s batting order is worrisome, despite an excellent start to the World Cup campaign.

- Neeru Bhatia/Southampton

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 has not gone Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s way. His underwhelming batting performance against Afghanistan on June 22 and the controversy about his wicketkeeping gloves have put the former India captain in the spotlight. In that match at the Hampshire Bowl, Southampton, Dhoni walked into a round of applause. But the capacity crowd soon went quiet. It watched with growing unease as India’s one-time finisher par excellence struggled at the crease. Seventy-five minutes later, he walked back amid boos, with 28 off52 balls.

Leg spinner Rashid Khan was yet to rediscover his line and length after the drubbing he got in Afghanistan’s match against England. He bowled short to Dhoni, but the latter could only manage some shots straight to the cover fielder. The outcome was 11 dots in 13 deliveries. At the other end, the pressure on his partner Kedar Jadhav kept mounting. Dhoni eventually fell to Khan’s bowling, in a futile bid to up the ante. His dot ball percentage—63 per cent—was very high by ODI standards. Not much materialised after Dhoni’s dismissal and India ended their innings at 224 for 8.