England vs India: Fans boo Dhoni at the Lord's
Yesterday, MS Dhoni crossed the 10,000-run milestone in ODI cricket. However, several Indian fans were left unimpressed by the former Indian captain as he was booed at the 'Home of Cricket', for his slow batting. Dhoni scored 37 off 59 balls while chasing the target of 323. India lost the second ODI, against England, by 86 runs as the series was leveled 1-1.
Dhoni played an 'uncharacteristic' knock
India needed 110 off the last 30 balls when the crowd got restless with Dhoni's slow scoring rate. Dhoni failed to score off the first four balls of David Willey's over, following which there was a boo after every dot ball. England's Joe Root claimed he was surprised by the crowd's behavior while Indian spinner Chahal came out in support of his former captain.
Chahal comes in support of Dhoni
"I don't know what was said to him. After Hardik was dismissed, there was only me, Siddarth, Umesh and Kuldeep. So it wasn't like there were 2-3 specialist batsmen remaining. He hadn't batted much, so this was a chance to get a knock." Chahal said.
Dhoni doesn't deserve this treatment by fans
This is extremely surprising considering the massive fan following MS Dhoni enjoys, across the globe. With less than a year to go, Dhoni is definitely India's first choice wicket-keeper, hence it is important to back the former skipper. Virat Kohli was not amused by the behavior of fans and critics. He also lashed out at the critics, stating people jump to conclusions quickly.
Virat Kohli lashes out at MSD's critics
"This thing comes up again and again when he's not able to play...it's unfortunate that people jump to conclusions quickly. When he does well, people call him the best finisher ever, and when things don't go well, people pounce on him" Indian skipper Kohli concluded.