Sourav Ganguly, Nasser Hussain left speechless with Dhoni and Jadhav's approach against England
Former England captain Nasser Hussain was baffled to see Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav's approach during India's chase of 338 against England at Edgbaston and his once upon a time counterpart Sourav Ganguly too had no words to defend what was happening at the middle.
India ended up losing by 31 runs to England in Birmingham -- their first defeat in this year's World Cup but the manner of it has left half the cricket fraternity shocked.
Dhoni and Jadhav faced 31 balls and played out 7 dots, ran 20 singles and hit only one maximum and three boundaries.
Seeing this unfolding, Hussain and Ganguly were left utterly shocked and slammed the approach taken by the Indians in the stiff but gettable chase on a flat track on Sunday.
"I am completely baffled. What's going on! This is not what India needed. They need runs. What are they doing? Some Indian fans are leaving now. Surely they must want to see Dhoni go for his shots, even if he slogs it off in the air. It's a World Cup game, top 2 sides, give it a go! Indian fans would want their side to do a little bit more. They want their side to go down with a fight. Risk it to win it," said Hussain during his commentary stint during the last stages of the Indian innings.
Ganguly too seemed surprised by India's approach and said that having 5 wickets in hand and still ending up playijng dots was strange.
Ganguly, who was doing the same along with the former England captain was equally shocked at the approach of Dhoni and Jadhav towards the fag end of the innings.
"I don't have an explanation for that. You asked me the question but I can't explain these singles. It's also the length and the bounce that has deceived the Indian batsmen. You can't be chasing 338 and still have 5 wickets in the end. It's about mindset and the way you look at the game. The message had to be clear: no matter where it comes and no matter where the ball lands you have to find the boundary," said Ganguly.
However, Virat Kohli continued to back his senior pro and said that it was difficult to bat towards the end and MS Dhoni tried everything he could have.
"We kept losing wickets and that doesn't help in a big chase, but credit goes to England in the end. It's up to discussions with the two guys who were in there," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"I think MS Dhoni was trying really hard to get the boundary but it wasn't coming off. They bowled in good areas and the ball was stopping, hence it was difficult to bat towards the end. We have to sit and assess and improve on things in the next game," Kohli said.
India's next match is against Bangladesh on July 2.
