Virat Kohli prompts MS Dhoni to start attacking as the crowd booes him

England levelled the three-match series with a resounding victory over India by 86 runs at Lord’s. The chase went nowhere for the visitors in the last 20 overs which made the game ever so dull. The centre of attraction was MS Dhoni here who never pulled the trigger despite the fact that the required run-rate kept creeping with every over. Finally, when things started to go out of hands, the skipper Virat Kohli sent out a message to attack and the veteran got out off the very next ball.

England, with the help of Joe Root‘s masterful ton, posted a formidable total of 322 runs after surprising everyone by opting to bowl first. Then India also began their run-chase smoothly with the duo of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan adding 49 runs in no time. But they lost three quick wickets in as many overs which left Kohli and Suresh Raina to concentrate on singles and rebuild the innings.

Dhoni’s struggle

Their partnership was going fine but Kohli was trapped in front by Moeen Ali in the 27th over which eventually proved to be the turning point. Raina also followed soon with the runs coming hard courtesy of England spinners. Meanwhile, MS Dhoni had strode out to the middle and the onus was on him to up the ante. He had Hardik Pandya with him to try and make a meal out of the chase. The youngster showed intent but was strangled down the leg-side.

Dhoni was then expected to play a whirlwind knock and take the team as close as possible. Instead, he dropped anchor and play a dour inning. He was booed by the Lord’s crowd on a day when he achieved a rare milestone of 300 catches and 10,000 runs in ODIs.

He never tried to slog out as well and maybe the pitch got even slower. There was no intent from him and eventually, Kohli sent out a message to play their shots when the proceedings got extremely dull. However, Dhoni heaved Liam Plunkett and got out the very next ball to end his struggling knock of 37 runs after facing 59 deliveries.

Here’s the video:

Virat Kohli sends MS Dhoni a message to attack and the very next ball he gets out. #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/wKGnTsCVPB

— aditya kukalyekar (@adikuks) July 15, 2018

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