India lost a nail-biting first T20 international of the two-match series to Australia by 3 wickets at the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Cricket Stadium in Vizag. India put up a target of 127 runs from 20 overs and Australia chased it down on the last ball of the match. After middle order failure, MS Dhoni tried to stabilize the innings in his unbeaten 29-run knock off 37 deliveries. But the manner in which he scored the runs has sparked a debate throughout the country. Dhoni wasn’t able to strike the ball cleanly on a difficult pitch and struggled to get the run-rate going. During the last over of the first innings, Dhoni even refused to take a single and get off the strike.
However, Australian batsmen Glenn Maxwell has come to the support of Dhoni even when he has been criticised from all sections of the fan base.
“It [farming the strike] was probably fair enough with the way the wicket was – being difficult to score for any batter, let alone a guy who is not known for his power-hitting in Chahal. MS is obviously a world-class finisher and even he was finding it hard to hit the middle of the bat,” Maxwell said.
“So, I think it was right of him to try and farm the strike. He hit a six in the last over and I think that’s the sign – he hit one six and they only got seven of the over. Shows you how difficult it is. If you hold MS to one boundary in the last few overs, it’s a pretty big effort,” Maxwell added.
In the last over, the ball was given to Umesh Yadav by captain Virat Kohli. However, Umesh failed to defend the target and conceded two boundaries to tailenders Jhye Richardson and Pat Cummins as Australia took a 1-0 lead in the series.
