MS Dhoni was helpless against lucky Simmons: Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir sure knows a thing or two about lifting World Cups. He was an important part of the squad that lifted the World T20 under the leadership of MS Dhoni. If that wasn’t enough, Gambhir played yet another crucial role as the Indians secured their first World Cup title since 1982 in 2011. Gambhir, who was dropped from the Indian side shortly after 2013 has failed to make a case for further selection.

According to the southpaw, Lendl Simmons was extremely lucky not to be dismissed on both the front-foot incidents. First, it was Ashwin who seemingly dismissed him only for the front foot no-ball to come in to save Simmons. The identical case occurred when Hardik Pandya also seemingly dismissed Simmons later on in the innings.

“I am not a big astrology fan but the way last evening went for Lendl Simmons, someone was surely controlling the stars for him.

“It doesn’t normally happen once, but with Simmons, it happened twice in the same innings that he was dismissed off a no-ball. I was most disappointed that one of those came from Ravichandran Ashwin. I respect him a lot as a cricketer and as a competitor, and, therefore, it was tough to accept that he over-stepped at such a crucial juncture,” the 34-year old added.

“If that wasn’t enough, young Hardik Pandya repeated the mistake of over-stepping when Simmons could have been dismissed on 50. And later on, he was caught in the deep by Ravindra Jadeja, who unfortunately stepped on the boundary rope. It just didn’t seem to be India’s day,” Gambhir said.

The former Indian batsman also added that the toss was hugely significant. He also added that the Indians batted well to score as much as they did, only for due to play a factor in their loss.

“They lost the toss and batted first at a venue where chasing is the order of the day. Then they posted 192 which can be considered a par score with small boundaries and a rocket outfield. Above all, there was one cricketing element which decimated India’s spin advantage – dew,” Gambhir added.

Having played under MS Dhoni previously, Gautam Gambhir was quick to point out the importance spin plays in Dhoni’s game. He also added that he was surprised when he saw Virat Kohli coming on to bowl ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja.

“MS Dhoni is a good captain but he is at his best when his spinners are in play. He likes the hustle-bustle that his spinners create, rushing through the overs and thereby controlling the game. I could see the tension on his face when Jadeja was bowling half-trackers with that wet ball. I wasn’t surprised to see Dhoni turning to Virat Kohli for bowling. I was also not surprised to note that Ashwin’s quota of overs wasn’t completed,” Gambhir said.

Finally, Gambhir stated that it was a wrong decision to leave out Shikhar Dhawan.

“I strongly feel the Indian team management erred by benching Shikhar Dhawan. If ever there was a venue to play him, it was the Wankhede Stadium. This was a flat pitch with small boundaries, something that would have excited him. In any case, I am never a big fan of giving a new guy a game in such an important fixture unless due to injury,” he added.

How have MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli inspired the Australian Women’s cricketer? – Australia’s Alex Blackwell takes inspiration from Dhoni and Kohli in the World T20