MS Dhoni's winsome gesture for Virat Kohli resurfaces after Hardik Pandya's six denies Tilak Varma T20I fifty
MS Dhoni's old batting video of letting Virat Kohli finish India's semifinal clash against South Africa during the T20 World Cup 2014 resurfaces.
Former India skipper MS Dhoni's old batting video from the ICC World Twenty 20 2014 has started doing rounds on several social media platforms suddenly after Hardik Pandya's match-winning six off Rovman Powell in the third T20I of the ongoing five-match series denied a young Tilak Varma an opportunity to notch up his second T20I fifty.
India who were chasing 160 in the third T20I at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Tuesday, August 8 needed six to win off 18 balls when the West Indies skipper Powell came into bowl. Skipper Hardik who was batting in the middle alongside Tilak smoked the penultimate ball of the over over long off for a gigantic six and helped India secure a seven-wicket win.
Watch Hardik Pandya's match-winning six from the 3rd T20I:
While Hardik finished the run chase off in style, the winning hit denied Tilak an opportunity to score yet another T20I fifty - his second on the bounce.
Since then the 29-year-old allrounder has been copping a lot of heat across social media platforms and a lot of netizens have dug out a batting video of Dhoni from the ICC World Twenty 20 2014 semifinal clash against South Africa.
Chasing 173 to secure a berth in the summit clash, India were just a run away from winning the contest with Dhoni on strike against the left-arm seamer Beauran Hendricks on the last delivery of the penultimate over.
Watch MS Dhoni's winsome gesture for Virat Kohli:
Hendricks delivered a slower short-pitched delivery to the then skipper, who could have easily placed it for a single but Dhoni gently defended the ball and stood still to let Kohli finish it off in a winsome gesture. On the very first delivery of the next over, Kohli scored a four off Dale Steyn to propel India into the finals.
Netizens are drawing a comparison between Dhoni's gesture and Hardik going for a six to finish the game off rather than letting Tilak complete an individual milestone.