Four Mistakes Of MS Dhoni That Played A Huge Role In India's Defeat To New Zealand

Former India skipper MS Dhoni continues to divide opinion because of his indifferent form with the bat. India exited the World Cup at the semifinal stage after being stunned by New Zealand. The Black Caps beat the Men in Blue by 18 runs to storm into the final where they will take on New Zealand. Throughout the competition, MS Dhoni faced the heat for not showing enough intent in this tournament.

He did score a fighting fifty against New Zealand but it eventually went in vain. In the wake of the defeat, the cricketing world is divided over MS Dhoni. So, through this article we take a look at four mistakes from Dhoni that played a big role in tilting the game towards New Zealand

4. Missing the chance to run-out Kane Williamson:

Kane Williamson was batting on just 26 when India got a huge chance to run him out. On the third delivery of the 26th over, Ross Taylor tapped a Yuzvendra Chahal delivery at short cover and set off for a quick single. Virat Kohli came charging and threw the ball under-arm while being airborne towards Dhoni.

Kane Williamson was struggling to make his ground. However, Dhoni failed to collect the ball. Kohli’s reaction after Dhoni’s failure to collect the ball said it all. Replays later showed that Williamson would have been in trouble, had Dhoni collected the ball. The New Zealand skipper went on to score 67.

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3. Dropping Ross Taylor:

Ross Taylor was batting on just 22 when he edged a Jasprit Bumrah delivery behind the stumps. On the third delivery of the 32nd over, Bumrah managed to open up Taylor. However, Dhoni failed to catch the resulting edge. It was a tough chance but one expects Dhoni to grab chances like those.  Taylor went on to play a fine knock of 74 which eventually made the difference in the match.

2. Taking the game too deep:

Dhoni has a knack of taking the game deep and he did the same against New Zealand. While Ravindra Jadeja was playing his shots at ease,  Dhoni was happy to just turn the strike over to Jadeja and block the deliveries. Consequently, the entire responsibility of keeping India in the game and keeping the required run-rate from going through the roof was on Jadeja.

In the end, the game just drifted away from India and the required run-rate made both Jadeja and Dhoni take drastic measures.

1. Not believing in his teammate:

Time and again we have seen Dhoni refusing to give strike to his partners in the death overs. Well, he did something similar in the semifinal too and paid a big price for it. With 31 runs needed from the last two overs, Dhoni hit the first ball of the 49th over for a six. The next delivery was a dot. On the third ball, he miscued a short ball and decided to take a non-existing double.

Despite Bhuvneshwar Kumar being a decent batsman, Dhoni did not show faith in him and decided to take a double.  But before he could complete the second run, Martin Guptill hit the stumps with a direct hit to run him out.

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