Former India opener Kris Srikkanth has said that MS Dhoni’s strike-rate and consistency is a big concern for India in One-Day Internationals.
Dhoni has come under some criticism after failing to accelerate in the death overs of the fourth ODI between India and South Africa on Saturday.
The former captain ended up unbeaten on 42 off 43 balls as India made 289/7 in 50 overs, but that was after hitting two boundaries in the final over of the match. Before that, Dhoni was struggling to find the boundaries and rotate strike.
Eyeing their first-ever series win in South Africa, India could have got more but a rain interruption punctured their momentum after opener Shikhar Dhawan’s hundred. As a result, India ended up scoring just 59 runs in the last 10 overs. However, despite the interruption, Srikkanth still thinks India fell short by at least 30 runs.
“You don’t end up on 289 in 50 overs after being 206 for two with 15 overs to go,” wrote Srikkanth in his column published in the Times of India. A total in the region of 320 should have been achieved without any trouble.”
Apart from Dhoni, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who scored nine runs off 17 balls in the fourth ODI, was also not spared. Apart from captain Virat Kohli and opener Shikhar Dhawan’s form at the top of the order, there hasn’t been much else to write about, according to Srikkanth.
“Dhoni failed to accelerate as he has in the recent past,” wrote Srikkanth. “The former captain and Hardik Pandya could not have hoped for a more solid platform to launch an attack and get India to a massive score.”
Chasing a revised target of 202 in 28 overs after a second rain interruption, South Africa completed the job in 25.3 overs. Srikkanth added that he hoped the defeat was a temporary setback for the visitors, who won the first three matches. He ended his column by repeating:
“The form of Rohit Sharma is a big concern and so is the strike rate and consistency of Dhoni and Pandya.”
