World Cup 2019: Dhoni needs to reconsider his strategy of refusing singles in slog overs
MS Dhoni is arguably the greatest finisher, along with Michel Bevan, in the one-day format. One of his time trusted strategies has been to take the game to the end.
He has always trusted in his ability to win games on the strength of his own bat. There are numerous occasions where he has taken India to win in the last over, with only a few exceptions where he failed to take India across the line.
He has so much belief in his own batting that he tends to refuse singles in the last overs. For a long time, that strategy, an admittedly successful one, has been appreciated by his legions of fans and has been seen as a sign of his confidence. It has held India in good stead as well.
However, there have been some questionable refusal of singles recently by Dhoni, most notably in this Cricket World Cup. It is absolutely fine when there is a number ten or number eleven batsman at the other end, and he refuses a single. But when there is a capable middle order batsman or a decent lower order batsman, such strategy is questionable.
In the match against England, he refused to take singles with Kedar Jadhav as the non-striker. In today’s match against Bangladesh, he refused many singles when he had a more than handy batsman in Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the other end.
It is not just the fact that he got out in the third ball of the final over after refusing two singles in the first two balls of the final over, when he had Kumar at the other end, which is infuriating in retrospect. It is also surprising because of the fact that Mustafizur Rehman had been bowling a superb spell at the death, and even Dhoni himself was struggling to take runs off him in previous overs.
While India won the match against Bangladesh. But it is time the team management has a word with Dhoni and persuades him to reconsider this strategy.
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