Twitter divided over MS Dhoni's knock against South Africa in Pink ODI

Team India lost the fourth One-Day International against South Africa at the Wanderers on Saturday and missed out on a chance to win the series. The hosts looked pumped up in the rain-curtailed chase and thumped the wrist-spinners surprisingly to stage a dramatic turnaround. However, after the loss, the debate over MS Dhoni’s unbeaten innings of 42 has once again propped up which helped India post 289 while batting first.

The visitors were well placed at 200/2 in the 35th over when the lightning struck which led to the umpires taking off the players from the field as a precautionary measure. Though the things weren’t the same after the resumption as the home side kept the lid on the run-scoring and scalped a key wicket of the centurion Shikhar Dhawan. The run flow was stemmed by South Africa with some impeccable fielding as the pressure increased on the middle order.

Dhoni’s valiant knock

MS Dhoni got off to a vintage start by hitting a six but struggled to middle the ball since then. Also, frequent fall of wickets at the other end led to him playing cautiously to make sure India played full quota of 50 overs. The likes of Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya all fell in quick succession failing to add more runs to the total. Dhoni made sure he stayed until the end and smashed a few boundaries only in the last couple of overs. He remained unbeaten on 42 off 43 deliveries and somehow dragged the Indian total of 289.

Despite playing a decent knock, people trolled Dhoni for slow knock. Though his struggles to time the ball were visible in the middle, the veteran didn’t throw his wicket away which helped India’s cause. While many applauded him for a sensible innings, few believed his slow knock was the reason the visitors could post a total beyond 300. However, it would be safe to say that if not for Dhoni’s 40 odd runs, India wouldn’t have crossed 260 given the way South Africa bowled at the death.

Here’s how Twitter was debating over his valiant knock:

South Africa's finisher today – Phehlukwayo 23* off 5 balls
India's finisher today – MS Dhoni 42 off 43 balls#SAvIND

— Nikhil Mane ??? (@nikhiltait) February 10, 2018

@imVkohli poor batting Of MS Dhoni responsible for 4th ODI lose to SA
Should drop him and need to give chance to young keeper

— Sunil G Choudhary (@SunilGChoudhary) February 11, 2018

SAvIND @msdhoni Should bat fast score more runs he his going for singles it will not work in end

— Akshay Kumar (@Akshay_Akki_M) February 11, 2018

@msdhoni…sir pls retire ho jau.. . Kyu kisi youngster ki jgh mr rhey ho yr… Dada ki trah bda dil dikaho or retire ho jao…

— Gaurav (@Gaurav512eee) February 11, 2018

@msdhoni struggling to accelerate run rate against quality attack. Need to groom young wicket keeper batsmen for early backup.#SAvsIndia #IndiaVsSA @BCCI

— Hitesh Parikh (@hiteshparik) February 11, 2018

All good things must come to an end! Time for @msdhoni to retire gracefully! https://t.co/6zoOcolxqr

— Vishwajit Aklécha (@aklecha) February 11, 2018

it seems obvious @msdhoni is keen to play 2019 world cup &keeping away youngsters or IND chance to win the cup again. Dhoni clearly past his best &should go away gracefully. And more pathetically cricket administrators supporting this nonsense @BCCI @IndianCricNews @ESPNcricinfo

— Alex Mathew (@kmalex74) February 10, 2018

It's a humble request to u @msdhoni plz retire.Can't digest u anymore.Taking nothing away from u n wot u ve done fr Indian cricket. With all due respect u dnt deserve this anymore. Even the great @sachin_rt retired wen he felt n ur nt even equal to his nails. #dhonipleaseretire

— Sahil Mahajan (@sahilashi1) February 10, 2018

43 balls 42 runs..@msdhoni 30 runs u were short as a finisher…dats the difference..If u can't score more than run a ball,u don't deserve to be playing as a finisher..Ur behind the stump commentary isn't enough @bhogleharsha @ImRo45 @YUVSTRONG12 @RaviShastriOfc @vikrantgupta73

— Sooraj (@Sooraj65964708) February 10, 2018