After captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first, India were restricted to a below-par 268/7 in 50 overs. Kohli was the top scorer with 72 while MS Dhoni hit 56 and Hardik Pandya contributed 46
Manchester: Former opening batsman Virender Sehwag has criticised India’s defensive approach against West Indies spinner Fabian Allen during their ICC World Cup 2019 match at Old Trafford on Thursday (June 27).
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After captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first, India were restricted to a below-par 268/7 in 50 overs. Kohli was the top scorer with 72 while MS Dhoni hit 56 and Hardik Pandya contributed 46.
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Sehwag took to the micro-blogging site Twitter to question Indian batsmen’s approach towards spinners, against Afghanistan and also today.
“Rashid Khan had gone for 25 in 4 overs , gave away only 13 in his next 6 and today Fabian Allen had given 34 in 5 overs, only 18 in next 5. Can't be so defensive against the spinners (sic),” Sehwag tweeted.
Rashid Khan had gone for 25 in 4 overs , gave away only 13 in his next 6 and today Fabian Allen had given 34 in 5 overs, only 18 in next 5. Can't be so defensive against the spinners.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag)West Indies left-arm spinner Fabian Allen went wicketless in his 10-over spell, conceding 52 runs. He could have had Dhoni's wicket but wicketkeeper Shai Hope missed an easy stumping chance.
Many had criticised Dhoni’s slow batting where he consumed 52 balls for his 28. His strike rate of 53.84 was the worst among Indian batsmen who had faced at least 10 balls against Afghanistan.
“I felt slightly disappointed, it could have been much better. I was also not happy with the partnership between Kedar and Dhoni, it was very slow. We batted 34 overs of spin bowling and scored 119 runs. This was one area where we didn’t look comfortable at all. There was no positive intent,” Tendulkar had told India Today.
Yesterday (June 26), India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun had defended Dhoni’s innings. He said, “I think according to the situation and the condition of the wicket, we were able to successfully defend the total that we put up. And had we probably lost a wicket at that stage, then things would have turned out differently. So I don't think it's too much of a concern for us right now.”
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