When Mahendra Singh Dhoni walked out for the toss it came as a pleasant surprise for the Indian fans. The world cup winning captain was leading the side for a record 200th times and had to step in, since both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were rested for the match.
He took charge of the proceedings and looked at his spinners to haul back the Afghanistan batting order after they had got off to a bright start. Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja took four quick wickets to bring India back in the contest. Dhoni was marshalling the troops with dexterity from the behind the stumps.
Kuldeep, who has been impressive right through this tournament, spun a web around Afghanistan and was on a hattrick at one point during the match.
However, when Kuldeep kept pestering the captain for a field change, Dhoni retorted by saying, “Bowling karega ya bowler change karein?” (Would you return to bowling or should we change the bowler).
Here’s the video of the entire incident:
Kuldeep went back to his bowling mark to resume his duties. He was the pick of the Indian bowlers as Afghanistan posted 253 runs in the first innings.
{{/usCountry}}Kuldeep went back to his bowling mark to resume his duties. He was the pick of the Indian bowlers as Afghanistan posted 253 runs in the first innings.
{{/usCountry}}Rashid Khan then was at his best as he defended seven runs in the final over and the match ended in a tie.
“There were a couple of run-outs, and a few things we can’t talk about (the incorrect LBW decisions) because I don’t want to get fined for it. It’s good that it’s a tie, but they played really well. The Afghanistan guys played really well. 250 was a very good score on this wicket. We could have been on the losing side because of quite a few things that didn’t go for us, so I’m happy with the result,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.